John Lennon Quotes

144 Sourced Quotes

I heard the news today, oh boy.
Four thousand holes in Blackburn Lancashire.
And though the holes were rather small,
They had to count them all.

John Lennon
I've always considered my work one piece and I consider that my work won't be finished until I am dead and buried and I hope that's a long, long time.

John Lennon
She told me she worked in the morning And started to laugh, I told her I didn't And crawled off to sleep in the bath. And when I awoke I was alone, This bird had flown. So I lit a fire, Isn't it good Norwegian wood.

John Lennon
I think a label like "avant-garde" defeats itself. You learn to have avant-garde exhibitions. The very fact that avant-garde can have an exhibition defeats the purpose of avant-garde, because it's already formalised and ritualised.

John Lennon
There's a shadow hanging over me,
Oh yesterday came suddenly.

John Lennon
The dream is over...
I was the Dreamweaver But now I'm reborn I was the Walrus But now I'm John.

John Lennon
There's only one person in the United States we ever wanted to meet … not that he wanted us. And we met him last night. We can't tell you how we felt. We just idolised him so much. … You can't imagine what a thrill that was last night. Nothing really affected me until I heard Elvis. If there hadn't been an Elvis, there wouldn't have been the Beatles.

John Lennon
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. … What they want is dead heroes, like Sid Vicious and James Dean. I'm not interesting in being a dead (expletive) hero. … So forget 'em, forget 'em.

John Lennon
I've had cocaine, but I don't like it. The Beatles had lots of it in their day, but it's a dumb drug, because you have to have another one 20 minutes later. Your whole concentration goes on getting the next fix. Really, I find caffeine is easier to deal with. … A little mushroom or peyote is not beyond my scope, you know, maybe twice a year or something. You don't hear about it anymore, but people are still visiting the cosmos. We must always remember to thank the CIA and the Army for LSD. That's what people forget. … They invented LSD to control people and what they did was give us freedom. Sometimes it works in mysterious ways its wonders to perform.

John Lennon
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
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
We're trying to sell peace, like a product, you know, and sell it like people sell soap or soft drinks. And it's the only way to get people aware that peace is possible, and it isn't just inevitable to have violence. Not just war — all forms of violence.

John Lennon
What do you see when you turn out the light?
I can't tell you but I know it's mine.
Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends.

John Lennon
Well, that's rubbish, you know. Nobody controls me. I'm uncontrollable. The only one who controls me is me, and that's just barely possible.

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

John Lennon
I don't mind people putting us down, because if everybody really liked us, it would be a bore. You've got to have people putting you down. It doesn't give any edge to it if everybody just falls flat on their face saying, "You're great." We enjoy some of the criticisms as well, they're quite funny; some of the clever criticisms, not the ones that don't know anything, but some of the clever ones are quite fun.

John Lennon
For I don't care too much for money,
For money can't buy me love.

John Lennon
It's fear of the unknown. The unknown is what it is. And to be frightened of it is what sends everybody scurrying around chasing dreams, illusions, wars, peace, love, hate, all that-it's all illusion. Unknown is what it is. Accept that it's unknown and it's plain sailing. Everything is unknown-then you're ahead of the game. That's what it is. Right?

John Lennon
You say you want a revolution Well you know
we all want to change the world...
But when you talk about destruction Don't you know that you can count me out Don't you know it's gonna be alright.

John Lennon
All that business was awful, it was a fuckin' humiliation. One has to completely humiliate oneself to be what the Beatles were, and that's what I resent. I didn't know, I didn't foresee. It happened bit by bit, gradually, until this complete craziness is surrounding you, and you're doing exactly what you don't want to do with people you can't stand — the people you hated when you were ten.

John Lennon
When we say "War is over if you want it," we mean that if everyone demanded peace instead of another TV set, we'd have peace.

John Lennon
Living is easy with eyes closed Misunderstanding all you see It's getting hard to be someone but it all works out It doesn't matter much to me

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
I found I was having continually to please the sort of people I'd always hated when I was a child. This began to bring me back to reality.

John Lennon
It was very romantic. It's all in the song, The Ballad of John and Yoko. If you want to know how it happened, it's in there. Gibraltar was like a little sunny dream. I couldn't find a white suit -​ I had sort of off-white corduroy trousers and a white jacket. Yoko had all white on.

John Lennon
I'm really very embarrassed about my guitar playing, in one way, because it's very poor. I can never move but I can make a guitar speak.

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

John Lennon
My original idea for the cover was better - decapitate Paul - but he wouldn't go along with it.

John Lennon
I can't remember anything without a sadness so deep that it hardly becomes known to me, so deep that its tears leave me a spectator of my own stupidity.

John Lennon
I've got used to the fact -​ just about -​ that whatever I do is going to be compared to the other Beatles. If I took up ballet dancing, my ballet dancing would be compared with Paul (McCartney)'s bowling.

John Lennon