John Lennon Quotes

"Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans."

"We've got this gift of love, but love is like a precious plant. You can't just accept it and leave it in the cupboard. You've got to keep watering it and nurturing it."

"You don't need anybody to tell you who you are or what you are. You are what you are!"

"I believe in everything until it's disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it's in your mind."

"I believe time wounds all heels."

"Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it."

"If someone thinks that love and peace are a cliché that must have been left behind in the Sixties, that's his problem. Love and peace are eternal."

"If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it Chuck Berry."

"Possession isn't nine-tenths of the law. It's nine-tenths of the problem."

"Part of me suspects that I'm a loser, and the other part of me thinks I'm God Almighty."

"You either get tired fighting for peace, or you die."

"If being an egomaniac means I believe in what I do and in my art or music, then in that respect you can call me that. I believe in what I do, and I'll say it."

"There's nothing you can know that isn't known."

"Surrealism had a great effect on me because then I realised that the imagery in my mind wasn't insanity. Surrealism to me is reality."

"Rituals are important. Nowadays it's hip not to be married. I'm not interested in being hip."

"These critics with the illusions they've created about artists—it's like idol worship. They only like people when they're on their way up."

"Lots of people who complained about us receiving the MBE received theirs for heroism in the war—for killing people. We received ours for entertaining other people. I'd say we deserve ours more."

"Reality leaves a lot to the imagination."

"Love is the flower you've got to let grow."

"My role in society, or any artist's or poet's role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel."

"When you're drowning, you don't say, 'I would be incredibly pleased if someone would have the foresight to notice me drowning and come and help me.' You just scream."

"I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I believe that what people call God is something in all of us."

"You have to be a bastard to make it, and that's a fact. And the Beatles are the biggest bastards on earth."

"Everything is clearer when you're in love."

"The thing the Sixties did was to show us the possibilities and the responsibility that we all had. It wasn't the answer. It just gave us a glimpse of the possibility."

"I don't believe in killing whatever the reason!"

"The postman wants an autograph. The cab driver wants a picture. The waitress wants a handshake. Everyone wants a piece of you."

"Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends."

"As usual, there is a great woman behind every idiot."

"If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there'd be peace."

"The more I see, the less I know for sure."

"I'm not going to change the way I look or the way I feel to conform to anything. I've always been a freak. So I've been a freak all my life."

"God is a concept by which we measure our pain."

"I'm not claiming divinity. I've never claimed purity of soul. I've never claimed to have the answers to life. I only put out songs and answer questions as honestly as I can."

"Jesus was all right, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me."

"You're just left with yourself all the time, whatever you do anyway. You've got to get down to your own God in your own temple. It's all down to you."

"We were all on this ship in the Sixties, our generation, a ship going to discover the New World. And the Beatles were in the crow's nest of that ship."

"All we are saying is give peace a chance."

"I really thought that love would save us all."

"Before Elvis there was nothing."

"Once a thing's been done, it's been done. Do something of your own. Start something new. Live your lives now."

"Don't underestimate the importance of happiness. As long as you're happy, who cares what you do?"

"I wouldn't say I was a born writer; I'm a born thinker."

"When I was about twelve, I used to think I must be a genius, but nobody's noticed."

"I don't mind people putting us down, because if everybody really liked us, it would be a bore."

"People like me are aware of their so-called genius at 10, 8, 9, 12. I always knew I was an artist."

"I've always considered my work one piece, and I consider that my work won't be finished until I am dead and buried."

"I don't need to go to church. I respect churches because of the sacredness that's been put on them over the years by people who do believe."

"We're all God. We're all potentially divine — and potentially evil. We all have everything within us."

"Don't believe that jazz about there's nothing you can do, 'turn on and drop out, man' — because you've got to turn on and drop in."

"I think a label like 'avant-garde' defeats itself."

"She forced me to become avant-garde and take my clothes off, when all I wanted was to be Tom Jones."

"I used to think anyone doing anything weird was weird. Now I know that it is the people that call others weird that are weird."

"Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I'll be proved right."

"For our last number, I'd like to ask your help. Will the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands? And the rest of you, if you'll just rattle your jewelry."

"I was the walrus, but now I'm John, and so my friends, you've got to carry on."

"Everybody loves you when you're six foot in the ground."

"Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life."

"Peace is not something you wish for; it's something you make, something you do, something you are, and something you give away."

"How can I go forward when I don't know which way I'm facing?"

"I don't believe in yesterday."

"I don't believe in Beatles. I just believe in me."

"Turn off your mind, relax, and float downstream."

"There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be."

"Love is a gift. You should give it to somebody."

"Being honest may not get you a lot of friends, but it'll always get you the right ones."

"Life is very short, and there's no time for fussing and fighting, my friend."

"One thing you can't hide is when you're crippled inside."

"Nobody controls me. I'm uncontrollable. The only one who controls me is me, and that is just barely possible."

"Everybody seems to think I'm lazy. I don't mind, I think they're crazy."

"I don't care too much for money, money can't buy me love."

"There's nothing you can do that can't be done."

"All you need is love. Love is all you need."

"Close your eyes and I'll kiss you, tomorrow I'll miss you."

"I don't know which will go first — rock 'n' roll or Christianity."

"I was different, I was the one who was different."

"I've got a right to be moody."

"People said the Beatles created a whole new way of life and thinking. Well, we didn't, we were part of it."

"I was prejudiced; I liked my own songs."

"Music is a way to express what we all feel, not to tell people how to feel."