Top 628 Quotes & Sayings by John Lennon

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an English musician John Lennon.
Last updated on September 7, 2024.
John Lennon

John Winston Ono Lennon was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as the founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon was characterised by the rebellious nature and acerbic wit in his music, writing and drawings, on film, and in interviews. His songwriting partnership with Paul McCartney remains the most successful in history.

He didn't come out of my belly, but my God, I've made his bones, because I've attended to every meal, and how he sleeps, and the fact that he swims like a fish because I took him to the ocean. I'm so proud of all those things. But he is my biggest pride.
If someone thinks that love and peace is a cliche that must have been left behind in the Sixties, that's his problem. Love and peace are eternal.
I don't know which will go first - rock 'n' roll or Christianity. — © John Lennon
I don't know which will go first - rock 'n' roll or Christianity.
Possession isn't nine-tenths of the law. It's nine-tenths of the problem.
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.
The postman wants an autograph. The cab driver wants a picture. The waitress wants a handshake. Everyone wants a piece of you.
If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it 'Chuck Berry'.
I believe time wounds all heels.
God is a concept by which we measure our pain.
I don't believe in killing whatever the reason!
The basic thing nobody asks is why do people take drugs of any sort? Why do we have these accessories to normal living to live? I mean, is there something wrong with society that's making us so pressurized, that we cannot live without guarding ourselves against it?
And God help Bruce Springsteen when they decide he's no longer God... They'll turn on him, and I hope he survives it.
All you need is love. — © John Lennon
All you need is love.
You don't need anybody to tell you who you are or what you are. You are what you are!
Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue with that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first - rock and roll or Christianity.
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. Who's to say that dreams and nightmares aren't as real as the here and now?
Rituals are important. Nowadays it's hip not to be married. I'm not interested in being hip.
It was like being in the eye of a hurricane. You'd wake up in a concert and think, Wow, how did I get here?
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.
You have to be a bastard to make it, and that's a fact. And the Beatles are the biggest bastards on earth.
Guilt for being rich, and guilt thinking that perhaps love and peace isn't enough and you have to go and get shot or something.
All we are saying is give peace a chance.
Everybody loves you when you're six foot in the ground.
Love is the flower you've got to let grow.
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.
Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it.
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. I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and all the rest said was right. It's just that the translations have gone wrong.
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.
Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.
There's nothing you can know that isn't known.
You either get tired fighting for peace, or you die.
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, mate.
The more I see the less I know for sure.
If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there'd be peace.
We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first, rock 'n' roll or Christianity.
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 or just think it's going to get on by itself. You've got to keep watering it. You've got to really look after it and nurture it.
It doesn't matter how long my hair is or what colour my skin is or whether I'm a woman or a man.
Yeah we all shine on, like the moon, and the stars, and the sun. — © John Lennon
Yeah we all shine on, like the moon, and the stars, and the sun.
The cross of the Legion of Honor has been conferred on me. However, few escape that distinction.
Part of me suspects that I'm a loser, and the other part of me thinks I'm God Almighty.
Jesus was all right, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me.
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.
Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted.
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. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all.
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 and I have to live with that, you know. I'm one of those people.
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... But I still believe in peace, love and understanding.
Will the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands? And the rest of you, if you'll just rattle your jewelry.
As usual, there is a great woman behind every idiot. — © John Lennon
As usual, there is a great woman behind every idiot.
Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we're being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I'm liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That's what's insane about it.
Everything is clearer when you're in love.
Love is the answer, and you know that for sure; Love is a flower, you've got to let it grow.
Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will be as one.
Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.
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.
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... I cannot be on the way up again.
Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end.
When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.
Count your age by friends, not years. Count your life by smiles, not tears.
When you do something noble and beautiful and nobody noticed, do not be sad. For the sun every morning is a beautiful spectacle and yet most of the audience still sleeps.
Being honest may not get you a lot of friends but it’ll always get you the right ones
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