JOHN LENNON QUOTES II

British singer/songwriter (1940-1980)

John Lennon

That's part of our policy, is not to be taken seriously, because I think our opposition, whoever they may be, in all their manifest forms, don't know how to handle humor. You know, and we are humorous, we are, what are they, Laurel and Hardy. That's John and Yoko, and we stand a better chance under that guise, because all the serious people, like Martin Luther King, and Kennedy, and Gandhi, got shot.

JOHN LENNON

BBC interview with David Wigg, May 8, 1969

Tags: humor


I'm not claiming divinity. I've never claimed purity of soul. I've never claimed to have the answers to life. I only put out songs and answer questions as honestly as I can.

JOHN LENNON

interview, Rolling Stone, 1980


Nothing you can know that isn't known
Nothing you can see that isn't shown
Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be
It's easy

JOHN LENNON

"All You Need Is Love"


We announce the birth of a conceptual country, NUTOPIA.
Citizenship of the country can be obtained by declaration of your awareness of NUTOPIA.
NUTOPIA has no land, no boundaries, no passports, only people.
NUTOPIA has no laws other than cosmic.
All people of NUTOPIA are ambassadors of the country.
As two ambassadors of NUTOPIA, we ask for diplomatic immunity and recognition in the United Nations of our country and our people.

JOHN LENNON

Declaration of Nutopia, co-signed with Yoko Ono, April 1, 1973


There's room at the top I'm telling you still
but first you must learn how to smile as you kill
if you want to be like the folks on the hill.

JOHN LENNON

"Working Class Hero"


I learned lots of dirty jokes very young. There was this girl who told me them. The gang I led went in for shoplifting and pulling girls' knickers down. Other boys' parents hated me.

JOHN LENNON

Life Magazine, September 13, 1968


Everyone deserves to believe they are beautiful.

JOHN LENNON

The Beatles Anthology

Tags: beauty


Sitting in an English garden waiting for the sun
If the sun don't come
You get a tan from standing in the English rain

JOHN LENNON

"I Am the Walrus"


God is a concept by which we measure our pain.

JOHN LENNON

"God"

Tags: God


Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields
Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about
Strawberry Fields forever

JOHN LENNON

"Strawberry Fields Forever"


I am he as you are he as you are me
And we are all together

JOHN LENNON

"I Am the Walrus"


It's just natural, it's not a great disaster. People keep talking about it like it's The End of The Earth. It's only a rock group that split up, it's nothing important. You know, you have all the old records there if you want to reminisce.

JOHN LENNON

interview with David Wigg, Scene and Heard, October 25, 1971

Tags: The Beatles


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

interview with RKO Radio on the day of his murder, December 8, 1980


Everything is as important as everything else.

JOHN LENNON

The Beatles Anthology


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.

JOHN LENNON

"What Can I Tell You about Myself which You Have Not Already Found Out from Those Who Do Not Lie?", The Beatles Anthology

Tags: society


Mother, you had me, but I never had you.

JOHN LENNON

"Mother"


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

Rolling Stone, January 7, 1971


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

All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono

Tags: relationships


One thing you can't hide is when you're crippled inside.

JOHN LENNON

"Crippled Inside"


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.

JOHN LENNON

interview, Playboy, January 1981

Tags: freedom