I have sung in hobo jungles, and I have sung for the Rockefellers, and I am proud that I have never refused to sing for anybody.

Be wary of great leaders.

I decline to discuss, under compulsion, where I have sung, and who has sung my songs, and who else has sung with me, and the people I have known.

I think folk music helps reinforce your sense of history. An old song makes you think of times gone by.

I learned by transcribing songs out of the Library of Congress collection in Washington where I was working. I got a job when I just turned twenty in 1939 and Alan [Lomax] needed some help. I listened to hundreds of records every week.

I was never enthusiastic about being somebody who was supposed to be silent about being a member of something.

A good song reminds us what we're fighting for.