John Lennon Quotes

If I had the capabilities of being something other than I am, I would. It's no fun being an artist. You know what it's like, writing, it's torture. ~ John Lennon

I kept the first Rickenbacker I ever got, a little short-scale John Lennon-type model. And I've got a couple of 12-string models, which are really nice, and I've got a Pete Townshend model, which Pete gave me a few years ago. But that's about it. ~ Paul Weller

It's hard to deny that an alarming number of those who stood for peace, not war, were either killed by deranged lone gunmen or else died in suspicious circumstances. We refer of course to the likes of JFK, Martin Luther King, Benazir Bhutto, Bobby Kennedy and John Lennon, to name but a few. ~ James Morcan

I thought the original Communist revolutionaries coordinated themselves a bit better and didn't go around shouting about it. ~ John Lennon

[LSD] went on for years. I must have had a thousand trips. I used to just eat it all the time. ~ John Lennon

When somebody is angry with us, we draw a halo around his or her head, in our minds. Does the person stop being angry then? Well, we don't know! We know, though, that when we draw a halo around a person, suddenly the person starts to look like an angel to us. ~ John Lennon

The whole thing died in my mind long before the rumpus started. We used to believe the Beatles myth just as much as the public and we were in love with them just the same way. But we were four individuals who eventually recovered our individualities after being submerged in a myth. ~ John Lennon

Like Paul Kraston said, all I ask in life is a water bed, a TV and a typewriter. Well, I'll just have an ordinary bed, a TV and a guitar. ~ John Lennon

Artists are magicians and I definitely think John Lennon was a Wizard. ~ Yoko Ono

As a child I did a lot of imaginary bits, you know. It depends on the individual, I enjoyed then knocking the nail in, I enjoy knocking nails in walls to hang pictures up, but I also enjoy thinking 'I'm gonna do that' but I actually won't do it, I enjoy imagining doing things just as much. ~ John Lennon

John Lennon was very irreverent and very intelligent. ~ Brenda Lee

They hit you at school, they hate you if your clever, and they despise a fool. ~ John Lennon

I still don't know how to express the really delicate personal stuff. People think that Plastic Ono is very personal, but there are some subtleties of emotions which I cannot seem to express in pop music, and it frustrates me. Maybe that's why I still search for other ways of expressing myself. Song writing is a limiting experience in some ways - writing down words that have to rhyme. ~ John Lennon

We put a President up there, and then we set fire to him because he's not solving all our problems. ~ John Lennon

As usual, there is a great woman behind every idiot. ~ John Lennon

In Hamburg the waiters always had Preludin - and various other pills, but I remember Preludin because it was such a big trip - and they were all taking these pills to keep themselves awake, to work these incredible hours in this all-night place. And so the waiters, when they'd see the musicians falling over with tiredness or with drink, they'd give you the pill. You'd take the pill, you'd be talking, you'd sober up, you could work almost endlessly - until the pill wore off, then you'd have to have another. ~ John Lennon

Life is what happens when you make other plans. ~ John Lennon

People never grasp the fact that they're going to have to go through the same thing again. They get to the sort of five-year stretch or the seven-year itch or whatever these tension points are that seem to be organic, built in, like the tide coming in and going out. It's like every time the tide goes out you quit
you move your house or something. ~ John Lennon

What I'd have liked would have been the money and the hit records without the fame. ~ John Lennon

When I was singing about 'All You Need Is Love' I was talking about something I hadn't experienced. ~ John Lennon

Life is what happens to you whilst you busy making other plans ~ John Lennon

I always was a rebel ... but on the other hand, I wanted to be loved and accepted ... and not just be a loudmouth, lunatic, poet, musician. But I cannot be what I am not. ~ John Lennon

Imagine having a disease so overwhelming that your mind causes you to want to murder yourself. Imagine having a malignant disorder that no one understands. Imagine having a dangerous affliction that even you can't control or suppress. Imagine all the people living life in peace. Imagine the estate of John Lennon not suing me for using that last line. Then imagine that same (often fatal) disease being one of the most misunderstood disorders ... one that so few want to talk about and one that so many of us can never completely escape from. ~ Jenny Lawson

Before many black singers were still labouring under that problem of God; it was often 'God will save us'. But right through the blacks were singing directly and immediately about their pain and also about sex, which is why I like it. ~ John Lennon

You're jeans are full of crap. You're full of beans, you're in you teens. You've lost your mama's road map. ~ John Lennon

Some people say it's a when you get older fans the kids don't like you. It's true. ~ John Lennon

A working class hero is something to be. ~ John Lennon

Music is everybody's business. It's only the publishers who think people own it ~ John Lennon

In both word and deed, one of the greatest idlers of all time was John Lennon. In his songs we see repeated defences of simply lying around doing nothing. ~ Tom Hodgkinson

I truly miss the genius of the music of John Lennon, as I'm sure everybody does. ~ Peter Fonda

Nor do I think we came from monkeys, by the wayThat's another piece of garbage. What the hell's it based on? We couldn't've come from anything-fish, maybe, but not monkeys. I don't believe in the evolution of fish to monkeys to men. Why aren't monkeys changing into men now? It's absolute garbage. It's absolutely irrational garbage, as mad as the ones who believe the world was made only four thousand years ago, the fundamentalists. ~ John Lennon

We gave up everything just to sit at your table. ~ John Lennon

In the '60s, I used to love rock magazines; I'd cut out pictures of Bob Dylan and John Lennon. ~ Patti Smith

Strawberry Fields is anywhere you want to go ~ John Lennon

John Lennon was a musical genius. All I have to do is think of some of his songs and even the titles make me feel good ... and I'm not the only one. His music has crossed cultures and even generations. ~ Ray Comfort

I've been reading [Nikita] Khrushchev Remembers. I know he's a bit of a lad himself - but he seemed to think that making a religion out of an individual was bad; that doesn't seem to be part of the basic Communist idea. Still people are people, that's the difficulty. ~ John Lennon

I smoked 20 cigarettes to get that sound because I'd read that John Lennon smoked a load of cigarettes on "Twist and Shout". ~ Steve Diggle

Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come. ~ John Lennon

The thing you must remember is that I'm the Number One John Lennon fan. I love him to this day and I always did love him ~ Paul McCartney

I'm not really a career person; I'm a gardener, basically. ~ John Lennon

If John Lennon was right that life is what happens when you're making other plans, parenthood is what happens when everything is flipped over and spilling everywhere and you can't find a towel or a sponge or your "inside" voice. ~ Kelly Corrigan

I just sat all night looking at him, saying, 'Wow, it's incredible.' When Yoko woke up, I told her, 'He's fine,' and we cried. ~ John Lennon

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

I'll probably be popped off by some loony. ~ John Lennon

That radicalism (of the '70s) was phony, really, because it was out of guilt. I'd always felt guilty that I made money, so I had to give it away or lose it. I don't mean I was a hypocrite. When I believe, I believe right down to the roots. ~ John Lennon

Did you ever stop to thnk about all the people we kill? They're always people who tell us to live together in harmony and try to love one another: Jesus, Ghandi, Lincoln, John Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, John Lennon. They all said: 'Try to live together peacefully.' BAM! Right in the f
in head! Aparently we're not ready for that! ~ George Carlin

Nobody loves you when you're down and out. ~ John Lennon

I don't have any romanticism about any part of my past. I think of it only inasmuch as it gave me pleasure or helped me grow psychologically. That is the only thing that interests me about yesterday. I don't believe in yesterday, by the way. You know I don't believe in yesterday. I am only interested in what I am doing now. ~ John Lennon

We make her paint her face and dance
If she won't be a slave, we say that she don't love us
If she's real, we say she's trying to be a man
While putting her down we pretend that she is above us ~ John Lennon

I was a great one as a kid for standing and just looking out a window for hours and hours and hours. Now the TV does that for me, except for the view changes immensely. ~ John Lennon

I only have one idol: John Lennon. ~ Michael Hirst

If there hadn't been an Elvis, there wouldn't have been the Beatles. ~ John Lennon

After The Beatles came on the scene everyone started putting on a Liverpudlian accent. ~ John Lennon

It doesn't matter who you love, where you love, why you love, when you love or how you love, it only matters that you love! ~ John Lennon

Trying to please everybody is impossible - if you did that, you'd end up in the middle with nobody liking you. You've just got to make the decision about what you think is your best, and do it. ~ John Lennon

There is no denying that we are still living in the capitalist world. I think that in order to survive and to change the world, you have to take care of yourself first. You have to survive yourself. ~ John Lennon

I sat belonely

I sat belonely down a tree,
humbled fat and small.
A little lady sing to me
I couldn't see at all.

I'm looking up and at the sky,
to find such wondrous voice.
Puzzly puzzle, wonder why,
I hear but have no choice.

'Speak up, come forth, you ravel me',
I potty menthol shout.
'I know you hiddy by this tree'.
But still she won't come out.

Such softly singing lulled me sleep,
an hour or two or so
I wakeny slow and took a peep
and still no lady show.

Then suddy on a little twig
I thought I see a sight,
A tiny little tiny pig,
that sing with all it's might.

'I thought you were a lady'.
I giggle, - well I may,
To my suprise the lady,
got up - and flew away. ~ John Lennon

I don't miss it. I'm glad it happened, but I don't miss it. ~ John Lennon

Reporter lady: What's that color? John: Hm. I'd call this a color! ~ John Lennon

Everybody seems to think I'm lazy
I don't mind, I think they're crazy.
Running everywhere at such a speed
Till they find there's no need. ~ John Lennon

I think it's the best thing I've ever done. I think it's realistic, and it's true to the me that has been developing over the years. I like first-person music. ~ John Lennon

I was trying to say something about Christianity, the idea that you have to be tortured to attain heaven. I didn't believe that. ~ John Lennon

The sun is up, the sky is blue
It's beautiful, and so are you ~ John Lennon

My mum is in a mental hospital. There's a fine line between genius and insanity. Winston Churchill, Mozart, John Lennon. These people all had a touch of crazy that fuelled their brilliance. They were not locked up for it like my mum. Pft. Then again, Winston Churchill never tried to kill my dad. ~ Christopher Titus

They want to hold onto something they never had in the first place. Anybody who claims to have some interest in me as an individual artist or even as part of the Beatles has absolutely misunderstood everything I ever said if they can't see why I'm with Yoko. And if they can't see that, they don't see anything. They're just jacking off to - it could be anybody. Mick Jagger or somebody else. Let them go jack off to Mick Jagger, okay? I don't need it. ~ John Lennon

You better get yourself together, darling, and join the human race. ~ John Lennon

I felt that film (Let It Be) was set up by Paul for Paul. That is one of the main reasons the Beatles ended. I can't speak for George, but I pretty damn well know we got fed up of being sidemen for Paul. After Brian died, that's what happened, that's what began to happen to us. The camera work was set up to show Paul and not anybody else. And that's how I felt about it. ~ John Lennon

Of course it's difficult to know what the workers are really thinking because the capitalist press always only quotes mouthpieces like Vic Feather anyway. ~ John Lennon

I think maybe what happened was the convenience of technology overshadowed the experience of holding an album in your hands, and sitting on your bedroom floor, and staring at a picture of John Lennon or Gene Simmons or Johnny Rotten. That tangible experience can sometimes become an even more emotional experience, because it's really happening. ~ Dave Grohl

I stopped listening to Dylan with both ears after Highway 64 (sic) and Blonde on Blonde, and even then it was because George (Harrison) would sit me down and make me listen. ~ John Lennon

Love is a flower you got to let it grow. ~ John Lennon

We were cowards when we sacked him. ~ John Lennon

My father and mother split and I never saw my father until I was 20, nor did I see much more of my mother. ~ John Lennon

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? ~ John Lennon

The reason why kids are crazy is because nobody can face the responsibility of bringing them up. ~ John Lennon

You don't have to be some sort of freak to meditate ~ John Lennon

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? ~ John Lennon

George himself is no mystery, but the mystery George is immense. It's watching him uncover it all that's so damn interesting. ~ John Lennon

John Lennon was just one of us, another human just trying to get through the day, and help make tomorrow a little better. And he was willing to put his thoughts and feelings about all that into his music, and when he had the chance to speak in interviews. He was only around for a short time, but he learned so much and was willing to give his heart and mind to all of us. What he had to say still resonates with me, with all of his fans. ~ Steve Landes

Most of the fans of John Lennon and maybe John and Yoko are younger than me. ~ Yoko Ono

'The Beatles' did whatever they wanted. They were a collection of influences adapted to songs they wanted to write. George Harrison was instrumental in bringing in Indian music. Paul McCartney was a huge Little Richard fan. John Lennon was into minimalist aggressive rock. ~ Chris Cornell

Captain Midlands: "I met the real you once."
John (Lennon) the Skrull: "You're meeting the real me now."
Captain Midlands: "I told him to get his bleedin' hair cut. ~ Paul Cornell

No matter how old you are now. You are never too young or too old for success or going after what you want. Here's a short list of people who accomplished great things at different ages
1) Helen Keller, at the age of 19 months, became deaf and blind. But that didn't stop her. She was the first deaf and blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.
2) Mozart was already competent on keyboard and violin; he composed from the age of 5.
3) Shirley Temple was 6 when she became a movie star on "Bright Eyes."
4) Anne Frank was 12 when she wrote the diary of Anne Frank.
5) Magnus Carlsen became a chess Grandmaster at the age of 13.
6) Nadia Comăneci was a gymnast from Romania that scored seven perfect 10.0 and won three gold medals at the Olympics at age 14.
7) Tenzin Gyatso was formally recognized as the 14th Dalai Lama in November 1950, at the age of 15.
8) Pele, a soccer superstar, was 17 years old when he won the world cup in 1958 with Brazil.
9) Elvis was a superstar by age 19.
10) John Lennon was 20 years and Paul Mcartney was 18 when the Beatles had their first concert in 1961.
11) Jesse Owens was 22 when he won 4 gold medals in Berlin 1936.
12) Beethoven was a piano virtuoso by age 23
13) Issac Newton wrote Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica at age 24
14) Roger Bannister was 25 when he broke the 4 minute mile record
15) Albert Einstein was 26 when he wrote the theory of relativity
16) ~ Pablo

I listen to the Beatles all the time - in my car, at the gym. The Beatles are still part of my life. And because of that, John Lennon - in life and in death - remains part of my life. ~ Laurence Shames

When I hold you in my arms and I feel my finger on your trigger I know no one can do me no harm because happiness is a warm gun. ~ John Lennon

Like one of his heroes, Tom Waits, whenever Yorke feels like his songwriting is getting too comfortable or stale, he'll pick up an instrument he doesn't know how to play and try to write with it. This is yet another trait of amateurs - they'll use whatever tools they can get their hands on to try to get their ideas into the world. "I'm an artist, man," said John Lennon. "Give me a tuba, and I'll get you something out of it. ~ Austin Kleon

Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time. ~ Marthe Troly-Curtin

I like people like Ani DiFranco, a band called Elbow, of course John Lennon, George Harrison, Barry White. I have a lot of different influences and hopefully they all come together and make some sense. ~ Billy Boyd

I'm cynical about society, politics, newspapers, government. But I'm not cynical about life, love, goodness, death. That's why I really don't want to be labeled a cynic. ~ John Lennon

I used to think it was mere homesickness, then I started getting it at home. ~ John Lennon

I get by with a little help from my friends. ~ John Lennon

It was very interesting time to be in England. Even at that point [John] Lennon and [Paul] McCartney influenced my writing. I thought, "maybe there is a huck or two in here I haven't thought of". ~ Gordon Lightfoot

Pools of sorrow waves of joy are drifting thorough my open mind possessing and caressing m ~ John Lennon

We never write anything with themes. We just write the same rubbish all the time. ~ John Lennon

rain, I don't mind ~ John Lennon

John Lennon brought his wife Cynthia, a nice blonde girl and she was horribly put out of sight and stayed home. I know it broke John's heart John wasn't happy about it and she was
because we spoke on the plane. I photographed her and them on the plane coming over. And you know photographs don't lie. They tried putting on a black wig on her for a couple of days and that was the sad part that kept quiet because they wanted them to be like, you know, fresh- which they were ~ Harry Benson

I'm not afraid of death because I don't believe in it.
It's just getting out of one car, and into another. ~ John Lennon

I don't believe in Elvis. ~ John Lennon

I just said what I said and it was wrong. Or it was taken wrong. And now it's all this. ~ John Lennon

The world went mad and used us as an excuse. ~ John Lennon