Pete Seeger Quotes

Little movements of communities of ordinary radicals are committed to doing small things with great love.

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)

Small groups of people can have a really huge impact.

One of the things that's very important, when you're an activist and an organizer like me, is to understand that when things happen of that nature, some people become immobilized and other people begin to find solutions. And Detroit is the kind of city where we begin to find solutions.

The power to shape Oregon's future remains where it has always been - in our collective hands.

Social change comes through people.

There is always a moment in any kind of struggle when one feels in full bloom. Vivid. Alive…. During my years of being close to people engaged in changing the world, I have seen fear turn into courage. Sorrow into joy. Funerals into celebrations. Because whatever the consequences, people, standing side by side, have expressed who they really are, and that ultimately they believe in the love of the world and each other enough to be that-which is the foundation of activism.

Disobey the rules; ask for more; leave your wretchedness behind; organize with your brothers and sisters; never accept the hand of fate.

Decent people can stand against mountains of power and move those mountains for the betterment of their children.

Change never comes from the White House. It comes from your house and my house.

Only force would produce social change.

It takes a lot of punishment to be able to do anything to change the social order.

When poor people get involved in a long conflict, such as a strike or a civil rights drive, and the pressure increases each day, there is a deep need for spiritual advice. Without it, we see families crumble, leadership weaken, and hard workers grow tired.

People don't realize they have the power. People don't realize that if they come together, there are more of them than those who occupy the seat that I'm in right now.

We've got to stop crying and start sweating, stop talking and start walking, stop cursing and start praying. The strength we need will not come from the White House, but from every house in America.

Social gains are never handed out. They must be seized.

I don't know how to change the world but I know if I keep talking about how dirty it is out here, somebody gon clean it up.

All change starts with a distant rumble at the grassroots level.

And who will join this standing up and the ones who stood without sweet company will sing and sing back into the mountains and if necessary even under the sea: we are the ones we have been waiting for.

In the words of Frederick Douglas, power concedes nothing without a demand; it never has and it never will. We must be that demand. We are the ones we've been waiting for.

That's what's great about Howard Zinn. Here's a guy who says, "Look, democracy doesn't come from above - it comes from below." The only way change will ever happen is if we speak up, and we have to know that it actually has an impact. Because we have a lot more power than we think we do, I think.

The power of the people is much stronger than the people in power.

While out in TV Nation, under darkening skies, the resistance is just waiting to be organized.

In the face of impossible odds, people who love this country can change it.

The point is change can come about, but it only comes about when millions of people are actively involved in political struggle, the billionaires may have the money, but we have the people.