Songs are funny things. They can slip across borders. Proliferate in prisons. Penetrate hard shells. I always believed that the right song at the right moment could change history.

Well, normally I’m against big things. I think the world is going to be saved by millions of small things. Too many things can go wrong when they get big.” — Pete Seeger (on how he felt about attending his big 90th birthday bash last year)

Now somebody will ask me, Pete, how can you prove these songs really make a difference? And I have to confess I can't prove a darn thing, except that the people in power must think they do something, because they keep the songs off the air.

One of the things I'm most proud of about my country is the fact that we did lick McCarthyism back in the fifties.

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

I never intended to make a living from music. That's the funny thing. I wanted to be a journalist.

All songwriters are links in a chain.