Woody Guthrie Quotes & Sayings

You oil field workers, come and listen to me I'm goin' to tell you a story about old John D. That company union made a fool out of me. That company union don't charge no dues It leaves you a-singing them Rockefeller blues. That company union made a fool out of me. Takes that good ole C.I.O., boys To keep that oil a-rollin', rollin' over the sea. Takes that good ole C.I.O., boys To keep that oil a-rollin' over the sea. — Woody Guthrie

All about a human being is, it's a great big hoping machine. — Woody Guthrie

If we fix it so's you can't make money on war, we'll all forget what we're killing folks for. — Woody Guthrie

I am out to sing songs that will prove to you that this is your world and that if it has hit you pretty hard and knocked you for a dozen loops, no matter what color, what size you are, how you are built, I am out to sing the songs that make you take pride in yourself and in your work. And the songs that I sing are made up for the most part by all sorts of folks just about like you. — Woody Guthrie

A folk song is what's wrong and how to fix it or it could be
who's hungry and where their mouth is or
who's out of work and where the job is or
who's broke and where the money is or
who's carrying a gun and where the peace is. — Woody Guthrie

I have decided long ago that my songs and ballads would not get the hugs and kisses of the capitalistic experts. — Woody Guthrie

My eyes has been my camera taking pictures of the world and my songs has been my messages that I tried to scatter across the back sides and along the steps of the fire escapes and on the window sills and through the dark halls ... — Woody Guthrie

Love is the only medicine I believe in. — Woody Guthrie

Nobody living can ever stop me. As I go walking my freedom highway. Nobody living can make me turn back. This land was made for you and me. — Woody Guthrie

I like to write about wherever I happen to be. — Woody Guthrie

If you walk across my camera I will flash the world your story. — Woody Guthrie

Life has a habit of not staying hitched. You got to ride it like you find it. — Woody Guthrie

I know the police cause you trouble They cause trouble everywhere But when you die and go to heaven You find no policeman there — Woody Guthrie

The best way to get to know any bunch of people is to go and listen to their music. — Woody Guthrie

As I went walking That ribbon of highway I saw above me The endless skyway I saw below me The lonesome valley This land was made for you and me. — Woody Guthrie

As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York island
From the Redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me. — Woody Guthrie

The note of hope is the only note that can help us or save us from falling to the bottom of the heap of evolution, because, largely, about all a human being is, anyway, is just a hoping machine. — Woody Guthrie

It's round the world I've traveled; it's round the world I've roamed; but I've yet to see an outlaw drive a family from its home — Woody Guthrie

I would like to see every single soldier on every single side, just take off your helmet, unbuckle your kit, lay down your rifle, and set down at the side of some shady lane, and say, nope, I aint a gonna kill nobody. Plenty of rich folks wants to fight. Give them the guns. — Woody Guthrie

One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple, by the Relief Office, I saw my people -As they stood hungry, I stood there wondering if God blessed America for me. — Woody Guthrie

Okemah was one of the singingest, square dancingest, drinkingest, yellingest, preachingest, walkingest, talkingest, laughingest, cryingest, shootingest, fist fightingest, bleedingest, gamblingest, gun, club and razor carryingest of our ranch towns and farm towns, because it blossomed out into one of our first Oil Boom Towns. — Woody Guthrie

Anyone who used more than three chords is just showing off. — Woody Guthrie

There's several ways of saying what's on your mind. And in states and counties where it ain't too healthy to talk too loud, speak your mind, or even vote like you want to, folks have found other ways of getting the word around. One of the mainest ways is by singing. — Woody Guthrie

I love a good man outside the law, just as much as I hate a bad man inside the law. — Woody Guthrie

It's a folk singer's job to comfort disturbed people and to disturb comfortable people — Woody Guthrie

Left wing, chicken wing, it don't make no difference to me. — Woody Guthrie

One day we'll all find out that all of our songs was just little notes in a great big song! — Woody Guthrie

I ain't a Communist necessarily, but I have been in the red all my life. — Woody Guthrie

Uncle Sam took up the challenge in the year of '33 For the farmer and the factory and all of you and me. He said, "Roll along Columbia. You can ramble to the sea, But river while you're ramblin' you can do some work for me." — Woody Guthrie

Was a great high wall there that tried to stop me. Was a great big sign there said private Property but on the back side it didn't say nothing. That side was made for you and me. — Woody Guthrie

I worked in your orchards of peaches and prunes. I slept on the ground in the light of the moon. On the edge of the city you'll see us and then, we come with the dust and we go with the wind. — Woody Guthrie

All you can write is what you see. — Woody Guthrie

Let me be known as just the man that told you something you already knew. — Woody Guthrie

Life has got a habit of not standing hitched. You got to ride it like you find it. You got to change with it. If a day goes by that don't change some of your old notions for new ones, that is just about like trying to milk a dead cow. — Woody Guthrie

You will never find peace with these fascists
You'll never find friends such as we
So remember that valley of Jarama
And the people that'll set that valley free.
From this valley they say we are going
Do not hasten to bid us adieu
Even though we lost the battle at Jarama
We'll set this valley before we're through.
All this world is like this valley called Jarama
So green and so bright and so fair
No fascists can dwell in our valley
Nor breathe in our new freedoms air. — Woody Guthrie

All of you cowboys, fight for your land. — Woody Guthrie

The words are the important thing. Don't worry about tunes. Take a tune, sing high when they sing low, sing fast when they sing slow, and you've got a new tune. — Woody Guthrie

Do Re Mi
California is a garden of Eden, a paradise to live in or see,
But believe it or not, you won't find it so hot
If you ain't got the do re mi — Woody Guthrie

This machine kills fascists. — Woody Guthrie

Some men rob you with a six-gun
others rob you with a fountain pen. — Woody Guthrie

I got started in Oklahoma. That's where I was born. Population down there is one-third Indians, one-third Negroes and one-third white people. — Woody Guthrie

A song ain't nothing but a conversation fixed up to where you can talk it over and over without getting tired of it. — Woody Guthrie

I better quit my talking 'cause I told you all I know But please remember, pardner, wherever you may go The people are building a peaceful world, and when the job is done, That'll be the biggest thing that man has ever done. — Woody Guthrie

Any fool can make something complicated. It takes a genius to make it simple. — Woody Guthrie

Now as through this world I ramble, I see lots of funny men, Some rob you with a six gun, And some with a fountain pen. — Woody Guthrie

If you want to learn something, just steal it. — Woody Guthrie

You can't write a good song about a whorehouse unless you've been in one. — Woody Guthrie

Now as I look around, it's mighty plain to see,
This world is such a great and a funny place to be.
Oh, the gamblin' man is rich, an' the workin' man is poor,
And I ain't got no home in this world anymore. — Woody Guthrie

Anyone who uses more than two chords is just showing off. — Woody Guthrie

This land is made for you and me. — Woody Guthrie

Left wing, right wing, chicken wing. — Woody Guthrie

If you play more than two chords, you're showing off. — Woody Guthrie