John Lennon Quotes

All we are saying is give peace a chance.

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.

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.

I don`t believe in killing whatever the reason!

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

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.

Love is the answer, and you know that for sure; Love is a flower, you`ve got to let it grow.

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.

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.

You don`t need anybody to tell you who you are or what you are. You are what you are!

Everybody loves you when you`re six foot in the ground.

(On the song "Mother") A lot of people thought it was just about my parents, but it`s about ninety-nine percent of the parents, alive or half-dead.

(looking back on his "more popular than Jesus" comment) I always remember to thank Jesus for the end of my touring days.

Would those of you in the cheaper seats clap your hands? And the rest of you, if you`ll just rattle your jewelry.

Time enjoyed wasting was not wasted.

If everybody wished for peace instead of another television set, then there would be peace.

God is a concept by which we measure our pain.

(at a 1971 rally) OK, so Flower Power didn`t work. So what?! We start again.

Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.

Eternity is a hell of a long time.

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

When real music comes to me - the music of the spheres, the music that surpasseth understanding - that has nothing to do with me, `cause I`m just the channel. The only joy for me is for it to be given to me, and to transcribe it like a medium...those moments are what I live for.

My wife forced me to become avant-garde when all I wanted to be was Tom Jones.

Elvis really died the day he joined the army. That`s when they killed him, and the rest was a living death.

Life is what happens to you while you`re busy making other plans.

(late 1960s) My name`s not John Beatle, it`s John Lennon.

We`re all Christ and we`re all Hitler. We are trying to make Christ`s message contemporary. We want Christ to win. What would he have done if he had advertisements, T.V., records, films and newspapers? The miracle today is communication. So Let`s use it.

(on hearing that Elvis Presley had died) Elvis dies and his manager lives. Our manager died and we lived.

Before Elvis there was nothing

(on meeting his teenage crush, Brigitte Bardot, in 1968) I was on acid, and she was on her way out.

Love means having to say you`re sorry every fifteen minutes.

Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn`t argue about that, I`m right and will be proved right. We`re (the Beatles) more popular than Jesus now. Jesus was all right, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It`s them twisting it that ruins it for me. I don`t know which will go first, rock and roll or Christianity. (to London`s Evening Standard, 1966)

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

Well, we all know about "Yesterday." I have had so much accolade for "Yesterday." That is Paul`s song, of course, and Paul`s baby. Well done. Beautiful - and I never wished I had written it. (From the 1980 Playboy Interviews)

(on reconciling with Yoko in 1975, after more than a year apart) The separation didn`t work out.

I don`t believe in Beatles, I just believe in me.

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`ve made two `discoveries` in my life: Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono. I think that`s a pretty damned good choice.

(about the song "Help!") I was eating and drinking like a pig, and I was fat as a pig, dissatisfied with myself, and subconsciously I was crying for help. It was my fat Elvis period.

Will all the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands? All the rest of you, if you`ll just rattle your jewelry. (At Royal Variety Performance 4th November 1963)

Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see.

My defenses were so great. The cocky rock and roll hero who knows all the answers was actually a terrified guy who didn`t know how to cry. Simple.

(Asked by a reporter if Ringo Starr was the best drummer in the world): In the world? He`s not even the best drummer in The Beatles!

Newspaper people have a habit of putting you in the front pages to sell their papers, and then after they`ve sold their papers and got big circulation`s, they say, `Look at what we`ve done for you.`

Always remember this: `A kiss will never miss, and after many kisses a miss becomes a misses`.

Spring passes and one remembers one`s innocence. Summer passes and one remembers one`s exuberance. Autumn passes and one remembers one`s reverence. Winter passes and one remembers one`s perseverance.

Love is a promise, love is a souvenir, once given never forgotten, never let it disappear.

Life is what happens to you while you`re busy making other plans

Cosmetics is a boon to every woman, but a girl`s best beauty aid is still a near-sighted man

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

Love is the flower you`ve got to let grow