British singer/songwriter (1940-1980)
One thing you can't hide is when you're crippled inside.
JOHN LENNON
"Crippled Inside"
If people take any notice of what we say, we say we've been through the drug scene, man, and there's nothing like being straight.
JOHN LENNON
The Dick Cavett Show, September 24, 1971
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
Everything is as important as everything else.
JOHN LENNON
The Beatles Anthology
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"
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
I really thought that love would save us all.
JOHN LENNON
attributed, The Philadelphia Inquirer, December 10, 1980
All we are saying is give peace a chance!
JOHN LENNON
"Give Peace a Chance"
Everyone deserves to believe they are beautiful.
JOHN LENNON
The Beatles Anthology
Mother, you had me, but I never had you.
JOHN LENNON
"Mother"
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"
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
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"
Think peace, live peace, and breathe peace and you'll get it as soon as you like. Okay?
JOHN LENNON
statement to the press, July 1969
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
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
It's only sane to be insane
Psychotic builds a castle
And neurotic lives in it
I don't know what to do with my sanity
When the world's at the verge of calamity
JOHN LENNON & YOKO ONO
"O'Sanity"
Leave a space and something will fill it.
JOHN LENNON
All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono
The idea of beetles came into my head. I decided to spell it BEATles to make it look like beat music, just a joke.
JOHN LENNON
Life Magazine, September 13, 1968
We know how to behave! We've had lessons.
JOHN LENNON
A Hard Day's Night