Which are your favorite John Lennon quotes?
John Lennon was an iconic singer-songwriter from the 60s to the early 70s. He was a member of the Beatles and one of the pioneers of rock and roll in the past century.
He was born on October 9th, 1940, in Liverpool, England. His father left him when he was 5 years old, so he lived with his mother, who eventually died when he was 17 years old. John Lennon met Paul McCartney at a church that both attended while they were still teenagers. The two became friends and later formed a group called “The Quarrymen.” Later, they had a band called “The Beatles,” which became one of the most famous bands. John Lennon’s first song written by himself in 1962 with The Beatles is “Love Me Do.” He was the lead singer of the Beatles and one of the most influential musicians in the world.
Check out these quotes to see how his influence helped make pop music history.
71 Most Inspiring John Lennon Quotes
“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.”
“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.”
“You don’t need anybody to tell you who you are or what you are. You are what you are!”
“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.”
“Count your age by friends, not years. Count your life by smiles, not tears.”
“If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create.”
“If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there’d be peace.”
“Only by trying on other people’s clothes do we find what size we are.”
“There’s nothing you can know that isn’t known.”
“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.”
“You’re all geniuses, and you’re all beautiful. You don’t need anyone to tell you who you are. You are what you are.”
“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”
“A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.”
“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.”
“It’s better to fade away like an old soldier than to burn out.”
“You don’t need anybody to tell you who you are or what you are. You are what you are!“
“Time you enjoy wasting was not wasted.”
“A mistake is only an error, it becomes a mistake when you fail to correct it.”
“Happiness is inside you not with another person.”
“Produce your own dream. It’s quite possible to do anything, but not if you put it on the leaders and the parking meters.”
“We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone.”
“Get out there and get peace, think peace, and live peace and breathe peace, and you’ll get it as soon as you like.”
“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?”
“What we’ve got to do is keep hope alive. Because without it we’ll sink.”
“Turn off your mind, relax, and float downstream.”
“I believe time wounds all heels.”
“Everything is as important as everything else.”
“The more real you get, the more unreal the world gets.”
“Peace is not something you wish for; It’s something you make, something you do, something you are, and something you give away.”
“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.”
“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.”
“Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.”
“I don’t believe in killing whatever the reason!”
“Being honest may not get you a lot of friends but it’ll always get you the right ones.”
“When I cannot sing my heart, I can only speak my mind.”
“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.”
“It matters not who you love, where you love, why you love, when you love or how you love, it matters only that you love.”
“All you need is love.”
“All we are saying is give peace a chance.”
“There are no problems, only solutions.”
“It’s weird not to be weird.”
“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.”
“Everything is clearer when you’re in love.”
“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.”
“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.”
“If you want peace, you won’t get it with violence.”
“As usual, there is a great woman behind every idiot.”
“Love is all you need.”
“Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.”
“Declare it. Just the same way we declare war. That is how we will have peace… we just need to declare it.”
“There’s nowhere you can be that isn’t where you’re meant to be…”
“How can I go forward when I don’t know which way I’m facing?”
“I can’t wake you up. You can wake you up. I can’t cure you. You can cure you.”
“When you do something 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.”
“If everyone could just be happy with themselves and the choices people around them make, the world would instantly be a better place!”
“Art is only a way of expressing pain.”
“I am a violent man who has learned not to be violent and regrets his violence.”
“Everybody loves you when you’re six foot in the ground.”
“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!”
“One thing you can’t hide – is when you’re crippled inside.”
“Being honest may not get you a lot of friends, but it’ll always get you the right ones.”
“Surrealism had a great effect on me because then I realized that the imagery in my mind wasn’t insanity. Surrealism to me is reality.”
“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”
“Love is a promise, love is a souvenir, once given never forgotten, never let it disappear.”
“Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.”
“We live in a world where we have to hide to make love, while violence is practiced in broad daylight.”
“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.”
“Love is the flower you’ve got to let grow.”
“Happiness is just how you feel when you don’t feel miserable.”
“Nobody controls me. I’m uncontrollable. The only one who controls me is me, and that’s just barely possible.”
