British singer/songwriter (1940-1980)
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'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
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
You should have gone west to America. You would have been a senior citizen of Boston. But you took a wrong turn, and what happened? You're a lonely old man from Liverpool.
JOHN LENNON
A Hard Day's Night
I am he as you are he as you are me
And we are all together
JOHN LENNON
"I Am the Walrus"
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"
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
I really thought that love would save us all.
JOHN LENNON
attributed, The Philadelphia Inquirer, December 10, 1980
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
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
Happiness is just how you feel when you don't feel miserable.
JOHN LENNON
The Beatles Anthology
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
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
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
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
God is a concept by which we measure our pain.
JOHN LENNON
"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"
One thing you can't hide is when you're crippled inside.
JOHN LENNON
"Crippled Inside"
Mother, you had me, but I never had you.
JOHN LENNON
"Mother"