--- title: "10 Want Quotes By Pete Seeger" description: "10 Want quotes by Pete Seeger. Plus more from Pete Seeger and more Want sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b6/pete-seeger-1942_grin_did-you-ever-want-something-really-bad-a_3062224.png" --- > [Did you ever want something really bad and then when you finally got it all you could do was stand there and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-seeger/did-you-ever-want-something-really-bad-and-then-when-you-finally-got/) [Pete Seeger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-seeger/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b6/pete-seeger-1942_grin_did-you-ever-want-something-really-bad-a_3062224.png) > [I write a song because I want to. I think the moment you start writing it to make money, you're starting to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-seeger/i-write-a-song-because-i-want-to-i-think-the-moment-you-start-writing/) [Pete Seeger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-seeger/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2de/pete-seeger-1942_killing-yourself_i-write-a-song-because-i-want-to-i-think_3071883.png) > [Anybody who wants to learn everything is pretty stupid. You learn what you can.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-seeger/anybody-who-wants-to-learn-everything-is-pretty-stupid-you-learn-what/) [Pete Seeger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-seeger/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/085/pete-seeger-1942_education_anybody-who-wants-to-learn-everything-is_829489.png) > [I want to turn the clock back to when people lived in small villages and took care of each other.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-seeger/i-want-to-turn-the-clock-back-to-when-people-lived-in-small-villages/) [Pete Seeger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-seeger/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3f9/pete-seeger-1942_care_i-want-to-turn-the-clock-back-to-when-pe_482758.png) > [Most conservatives just want to turn back the clock to a time before the income tax - 100 years or so. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-seeger/most-conservatives-just-want-to-turn-back-the-clock-to-a-time-before/) [Pete Seeger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-seeger/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2f9/pete-seeger-1942_care_most-conservatives-just-want-to-turn-bac_263761.png) > [I have to resist the temptation to want to learn everything. You know, you can't. You have to restrict yourself at some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-seeger/i-have-to-resist-the-temptation-to-want-to-learn-everything-you-know/) [Pete Seeger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-seeger/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1d8/pete-seeger-1942_finding-yourself_i-have-to-resist-the-temptation-to-want_975787.png) > [I think these are very improper questions for any American to be asked, especially under such compulsion as this. I would be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-seeger/i-think-these-are-very-improper-questions-for-any-american-to-be/) [Pete Seeger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-seeger/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cdf/pete-seeger-1942_compulsion_i-think-these-are-very-improper-question_1976610.png) > [A good song can only do good, and I am proud of the songs I have sung. I hope to be able…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-seeger/a-good-song-can-only-do-good-and-i-am-proud-of-the-songs-i-have-sung/) [Pete Seeger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-seeger/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ceb/pete-seeger-1942_able_a-good-song-can-only-do-good-and-i-am-pr_2573298.png) > [If there's a world here in a hundred years, it's going to be saved by tens of millions of little things. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-seeger/if-there-s-a-world-here-in-a-hundred-years-it-s-going-to-be-saved-by/) [Pete Seeger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-seeger/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a22/pete-seeger-1942_big-things_if-there-s-a-world-here-in-a-hundred-yea_568146.jpg) > [I remember someone once saying, "Pete, you know you really should take voice lessons." And I said, "Well, if I could find…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-seeger/i-remember-someone-once-saying-pete-you-know-you-really-should-take/) [Pete Seeger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-seeger/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/232/pete-seeger-1942_belly_i-remember-someone-once-saying-pete-you_588043.png) ## Other authors on Want ## More by Pete Seeger > [Honest songs aren't written for money.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-seeger/honest-songs-aren-t-written-for-money/) [Pete Seeger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-seeger/) > [My father, Charles Seeger, got me into the Communist movement. He backed out around '38. I drifted out in the 50's.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-seeger/my-father-charles-seeger-got-me-into-the-communist-movement-he-backed/) [Pete Seeger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-seeger/) > [In the sixties, during the Vietnam war, when anarchists and pacifists and socialists, Democrats and Republicans, decent-hearted Americans, all recoiled with horror at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-seeger/in-the-sixties-during-the-vietnam-war-when-anarchists-and-pacifists/) [Pete Seeger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-seeger/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-seeger/now-somebody-will-ask-me-pete-how-can-you-prove-these-songs-really/) [Pete Seeger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-seeger/) > [The truth is a rabbit in a bramble patch. All you can do is circle around and say it's somewhere in there.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-seeger/the-truth-is-a-rabbit-in-a-bramble-patch-all-you-can-do-is-circle/) [Pete Seeger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-seeger/) > [I was about 16 years old years when my father took me to a square dance festival in North Carolina. For the first time…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-seeger/i-was-about-16-years-old-years-when-my-father-took-me-to-a-square/) [Pete Seeger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-seeger/) > [It was Rachel Carson's famous book 'Silent Spring' that got me involved with the environment. I read it in The New Yorker, in installments.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-seeger/it-was-rachel-carson-s-famous-book-silent-spring-that-got-me-involved/) [Pete Seeger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-seeger/) > [When you play the 12-string guitar, you spend half your life tuning the instrument and the other half playing it out of tune.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-seeger/when-you-play-the-12-string-guitar-you-spend-half-your-life-tuning/) [Pete Seeger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-seeger/) > [Folks out in the country couldn't afford to pay for anybody else to make music. They had to make their own. So the peasantry…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-seeger/folks-out-in-the-country-couldn-t-afford-to-pay-for-anybody-else-to/) [Pete Seeger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-seeger/) > [If there's something wrong, speak up!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-seeger/if-there-s-something-wrong-speak-up/) [Pete Seeger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-seeger/) > [This world is so full of hypocrisy, the only way you can be honest is to be a hermit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-seeger/this-world-is-so-full-of-hypocrisy-the-only-way-you-can-be-honest-is/) [Pete Seeger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-seeger/) > [There is a big, beautiful world that could be destroyed by selfishness and foolishness. We musicians have it within our power to help save…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-seeger/there-is-a-big-beautiful-world-that-could-be-destroyed-by-selfishness/) [Pete Seeger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-seeger/) > [And the people in the houses All went to the University And they got put in boxes Little boxes all the same, Little boxes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-seeger/and-the-people-in-the-houses-all-went-to-the-university-and-they-got/) [Pete Seeger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-seeger/) > [A good song reminds us what we're fighting for.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-seeger/a-good-song-reminds-us-what-we-re-fighting-for/) [Pete Seeger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-seeger/) > [Most conservatives just want to turn back the clock to a time before the income tax - 100 years or so. I would like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-seeger/most-conservatives-just-want-to-turn-back-the-clock-to-a-time-before/) [Pete Seeger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pete-seeger/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/want/pete-seeger/#itemlist", "name": "10 Want Quotes By Pete Seeger", "numberOfItems": 10, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Did you ever want something really bad and then when you finally got it all you could do was stand there and grin at it?", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Pete Seeger" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-seeger/did-you-ever-want-something-really-bad-and-then-when-you-finally-got/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b6/pete-seeger-1942_grin_did-you-ever-want-something-really-bad-a_3062224.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b6/pete-seeger-1942_grin_did-you-ever-want-something-really-bad-a_3062224.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2b6/pete-seeger-1942_grin_did-you-ever-want-something-really-bad-a_3062224.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Did you ever want something really bad and then when you finally got it all you could do was stand there and…” — Pete Seeger", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I write a song because I want to. 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And already I think I try too many things.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Pete Seeger" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-seeger/i-have-to-resist-the-temptation-to-want-to-learn-everything-you-know/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1d8/pete-seeger-1942_finding-yourself_i-have-to-resist-the-temptation-to-want_975787.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1d8/pete-seeger-1942_finding-yourself_i-have-to-resist-the-temptation-to-want_975787.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1d8/pete-seeger-1942_finding-yourself_i-have-to-resist-the-temptation-to-want_975787.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I have to resist the temptation to want to learn everything. You know, you can't. 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I would be very glad to tell you my life if you want to hear of it.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Pete Seeger" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-seeger/i-think-these-are-very-improper-questions-for-any-american-to-be/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cdf/pete-seeger-1942_compulsion_i-think-these-are-very-improper-question_1976610.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cdf/pete-seeger-1942_compulsion_i-think-these-are-very-improper-question_1976610.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cdf/pete-seeger-1942_compulsion_i-think-these-are-very-improper-question_1976610.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I think these are very improper questions for any American to be asked, especially under such compulsion as…” — Pete Seeger", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "A good song can only do good, and I am proud of the songs I have sung. I hope to be able to continue singing these songs for all who want to listen, Republicans, Democrats, and independents.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Pete Seeger" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pete-seeger/a-good-song-can-only-do-good-and-i-am-proud-of-the-songs-i-have-sung/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ceb/pete-seeger-1942_able_a-good-song-can-only-do-good-and-i-am-pr_2573298.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ceb/pete-seeger-1942_able_a-good-song-can-only-do-good-and-i-am-pr_2573298.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ceb/pete-seeger-1942_able_a-good-song-can-only-do-good-and-i-am-pr_2573298.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“A good song can only do good, and I am proud of the songs I have sung. 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