JOHN LENNON QUOTES III
British singer/songwriter (1940-1980)
Children, Don't do what I have done
I couldn't walk so I tried to run
JOHN LENNON
"Mother"
Lots of people who complained about us receiving the MBE received theirs for heroism in the war--for killing people. We received ours for entertaining other people. I'd say we deserve ours more.
JOHN LENNON
attributed, Beatles Illustrated Lyrics, vol. I
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
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
Happiness is just how you feel when you don't feel miserable.
JOHN LENNON
The Beatles Anthology
God is a concept by which we measure our pain.
JOHN LENNON
"God"
We know how to behave! We've had lessons.
JOHN LENNON
A Hard Day's Night
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
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
What's Bagism? It's like... a tag for what we all do, we're all in a bag ya know, and we realised that we came from two bags, I was in this pop bag going round and round in my little clique, and she was in her little avant-garde clique going round and round, and you're in your little tele clique and they're in their...ya know? and we all sort of come out and look at each other every now and then, but we don't communicate. And we all intellectualize about how there is no barrier between art, music, poetry... but we're still all "I'm a rock and roller, he's a poet" ... so we just came up with the word so you would ask us what bagism is, and we'd say "WE'RE ALL IN A BAG BABY!"
JOHN LENNON
interview, The David Frost Show, June 14, 1969
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
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
You have to be a bastard to make it, and that's a fact. And the Beatles are the biggest bastards on earth.
JOHN LENNON
attributed, Lennon Remembers
My defenses were so great. The cocky rock and roll hero who knows all the answers was actually a terrified guy who didn't know how to cry. Simple.
JOHN LENNON
interview, Playboy, September 1980
One thing you can't hide is when you're crippled inside.
JOHN LENNON
"Crippled Inside"
Limitless undying love which shines around me like a million suns it calls me on and on across the universe.
JOHN LENNON
"Across the Universe"
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
Mother, you had me, but I never had you.
JOHN LENNON
"Mother"
I am he as you are he as you are me
And we are all together
JOHN LENNON
"I Am the Walrus"
Christ, you know it ain't easy
You know how hard it can be.
The way things are going,
they're going to crucify me.
JOHN LENNON
"Ballad of John and Yoko"