quotes by John Lennon

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
— John Lennon

"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 live as one."
— John Lennon

"Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted."
— John Lennon

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

"All you need is love."
— John Lennon

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

"A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality."
— John Lennon

"There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance. We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create. Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life."
— John Lennon

"If someone thinks that peace and love are just a cliche that must have been left behind in the 60s, that's a problem. Peace and love are eternal."
— John Lennon

"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?"
— John Lennon

"Living is Easy with Your Eyes Closed."
— John Lennon

"Reality leaves a lot to the imagination."
— John Lennon

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

"Count your age by friends, not years Count your life by smiles, not tears."
— John Lennon

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

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

"For those of you in the cheap seats I'd like ya to clap your hands to this one; the rest of you can just rattle your jewelry!"
— John Lennon

"Nothing is real."
— John Lennon (Beatles Lyrics)

"War is over ... If you want it."
— John Lennon

"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."
— John Lennon

"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."
— John Lennon

"Give me a break." (Lennon's comment to fundamentalist Christian outrage at his comment that the Beatles were now more popular than Jesus)"
— John Lennon

"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."
— John Lennon

"Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup,
They slither wildly as they slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow, waves of joy are drifting through my open mind,
Possessing and caressing me.
Images of broken light which dance before me like a million eyes,
They call me on and on across the universe,
Thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letter box
They tumble blindly as they make their way
Across the universe
Sounds of laughter shades of love are
Ringing through my open ears inciting and inviting me
Limitless undying love which shines around me like a
Million suns, and calls me on and on
Across the universe
~ The Beatles"
— John Lennon

"Limitless undying love which shines around me like a million suns it calls me on and on across the universe."
— John Lennon

"One thing you can't hide - is when you're crippled inside."
— John Lennon

"I don't believe in Beatles, I just believe in me."
— John Lennon

"Slipping? We're bigger than Jesus."
— John Lennon

"Love is like a flower-you've got to let it grow."
— John Lennon

"You can manicure a cat but can you caticure a man?"
— John Lennon (Skywriting by Word of Mouth : And Other Writings, Including "The Ballad of John and Yoko")

"As soon as you're born, they make you feel small, by giving you no time instead of it all...til you're so full of fear you can't function at all. A working class hero is something to be."
— John Lennon

"I was the walrus, but now I am John...and so my friends, you'll just have to carry on. The dream is over."
— John Lennon

"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."
— John Lennon

"Make your own dream.

That's the Beatles' story, isn't it? That's Yoko's story, that's what I'm saying now. Produce your own dream. If you want to save Peru, go save Peru. It's quite possible to do anything, but not to put it on the leaders and the parking meters. Don't expect Jimmy Carter or Ronald Reagan or John Lennon or Yoko Ono or Bob Dylan or Jesus Christ to come and do it for you. You have to do it yourself.

That's what the great masters and mistresses have been saying ever since time began. They can point the way, leave signposts and little instructions in various books that are now called holy and worshipped for the cover of the book and not for what it says, but the instructions are all there for all to see, have always been and always will be.

There's nothing new under the sun. All the roads lead to Rome. And people cannot provide it for you. I can't wake you up. You can wake you up. I can't cure you. You can cure you."
— John Lennon

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

"I am the walrus."
— John Lennon

"We all shine on...like the moon and the stars and the sun...we all shine on...come on and on and on..."
— John Lennon

"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."
— John Lennon

"Whatever gets you through the night"
— John Lennon

"When you're drowning you don't think, "I would be incredibly pleased if someone would notice I'm drowning and come and rescue me." You just scream."
— John Lennon

"Before Elvis there was nothing."
— John Lennon

"Women should be obscene and not heard."
— John Lennon

"I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together."
— John Lennon

"Why in the world are we here? Surely not to live in pain and fear. Why on earth are you there, when you're everywhere-come and get your share."
— John Lennon

"Everybody loves you when you re six foot in the ground."
— John Lennon

"Love is all you need."
— John Lennon

"Love is a promise, love is a souvenir, once given never forgotten, never let it disappear."
— John Lennon

"No short-haired, yellow-bellied, son of tricky dicky
Is gonna mother hubbard soft soap me
With just a pocketful of soap."
— John Lennon

"Everything is clearer when you're in love."
— John Lennon

"I am a violent man who has learned not to be violent and regrets his violence."
— John Lennon