200 John Lennon Quotes: Best Lines on Peace & Music

This collection includes documented lines from his interviews and short lyric excerpts from his songs, each labeled with its source. A few widely-circulating lines are marked as attributed where no primary source could be confirmed.

John Lennon Quotes on Peace and Love

From bed-ins to anthems, John Lennon made peace his life’s message. These lines come from his songs and interviews about love.

1. If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there’d be peace. — John Lennon (Interview)
2. Declare it. Just the same way we declare war. That is how we will have peace. — John Lennon (Interview)
3. I don’t believe in killing whatever the reason. — John Lennon (Interview)
4. If someone thinks that peace and love are just a cliché that must have been left behind in the ’60s, that’s a problem. Peace and love are eternal. — John Lennon (Interview)
5. Out on the ocean sailing away, I can hardly wait to see you come of age. — John Lennon (“Beautiful Boy” (1980), lyric excerpt)
6. Love is real, real is love. — John Lennon (“Love” (1970), lyric excerpt)
7. Love is feeling, feeling love. — John Lennon (“Love” (1970), lyric excerpt)
8. Love is wanting to be loved. — John Lennon (“Love” (1970), lyric excerpt)
9. Love is free, free is love. — John Lennon (“Love” (1970), lyric excerpt)
10. Love is living, living love. — John Lennon (“Love” (1970), lyric excerpt)
11. Love is needing to be loved. — John Lennon (“Love” (1970), lyric excerpt)
12. All we are saying is give peace a chance. — John Lennon (“Give Peace a Chance” (1969), lyric excerpt)
13. Everybody’s talking about Bagism, Shagism, Dragism, Madism, Ragism, Tagism. — John Lennon (“Give Peace a Chance” (1969), lyric excerpt)
14. No need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man. — John Lennon (“Imagine” (1971), lyric excerpt)
15. I hope someday you’ll join us, and the world will live as one. — John Lennon (“Imagine” (1971), lyric excerpt)
16. War is over, if you want it. — John Lennon (“Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” (1971), lyric excerpt)
17. A very merry Christmas, and a happy New Year. Let’s hope it’s a good one, without any fear. — John Lennon (“Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” (1971), lyric excerpt)
18. There’s nothing you can make that can’t be made. — John Lennon (“All You Need Is Love” (1967), lyric excerpt)
19. Love, love, love. — John Lennon (“All You Need Is Love” (1967), lyric excerpt)
20. Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game. — John Lennon (“All You Need Is Love” (1967), lyric excerpt)
21. Nothing you can sing that can’t be sung. — John Lennon (“All You Need Is Love” (1967), lyric excerpt)
22. There’s nowhere you can be that isn’t where you’re meant to be. — John Lennon (“All You Need Is Love” (1967), lyric excerpt)
23. Power to the people, right on. — John Lennon (“Power to the People” (1971), lyric excerpt)
24. Woman, I can hardly express my mixed emotions at my thoughtlessness. — John Lennon (“Woman” (1980), lyric excerpt)
25. Woman, please let me explain, I never meant to cause you sorrow or pain. — John Lennon (“Woman” (1980), lyric excerpt)
26. For the other half of the sky. — John Lennon (“Woman” (1980), lyric excerpt)
27. Oh my love, for the first time in my life, my eyes are wide open. — John Lennon (“Oh My Love” (1971), lyric excerpt)
28. Oh my lover, for the first time in my life, my eyes can see. — John Lennon (“Oh My Love” (1971), lyric excerpt)
29. I see the wind, oh I see the trees. — John Lennon (“Oh My Love” (1971), lyric excerpt)
30. Everything is clearer when you’re in love. — John Lennon (Interview)
31. We don’t care what flag you’re waving. — John Lennon (“Bring On the Lucie (Freda Peeple)” (1973), lyric excerpt)
32. We don’t even wanna know your name. — John Lennon (“Bring On the Lucie (Freda Peeple)” (1973), lyric excerpt)
33. Bless you wherever you are. — John Lennon (“Bless You” (1974), lyric excerpt)
34. Our life together is so precious together. — John Lennon (“(Just Like) Starting Over” (1980), lyric excerpt)
35. We have grown, we have grown. — John Lennon (“(Just Like) Starting Over” (1980), lyric excerpt)
36. In the middle of the night, in the middle of the night I call your name. — John Lennon (“Oh Yoko!” (1971), lyric excerpt)
37. Love is old, love is new, love is all, love is you. — John Lennon (“Because” (1969), lyric excerpt)
38. Don’t hate what you don’t understand. — Attributed to John Lennon (Widely circulated, no primary source found)
39. Being honest may not get you a lot of friends, but it’ll always get you the right ones. — Attributed to John Lennon (Widely circulated, no primary source found)
40. We live in a world where we have to hide to make love, while violence is practiced in broad daylight. — Attributed to John Lennon (Widely circulated, no primary source found)

John Lennon Quotes on Music and Art

As a Beatle and a solo artist, John Lennon reshaped popular music. Here he talks about music, art and the madness of fame.

1. Hey, Bungalow Bill, what did you kill, Bungalow Bill? — John Lennon (“The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill” (1968), lyric excerpt)
2. Surrealism had a great effect on me. — John Lennon (Interview)
3. My role in society, or any artist’s or poet’s role, is to try and express what we all feel. — John Lennon (Interview)
4. 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. — John Lennon (Interview)
5. The Beatles were just a band that made it very, very big. That’s all. — John Lennon (Interview)
6. It was like being in the eye of a hurricane. — John Lennon (Interview)
7. You’d wake up in a concert and think, wow, how did I get here? — John Lennon (Interview)
8. I am the walrus, goo goo g’joob. — John Lennon (“I Am the Walrus” (1967), lyric excerpt)
9. I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together. — John Lennon (“I Am the Walrus” (1967), lyric excerpt)
10. Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come. — John Lennon (“I Am the Walrus” (1967), lyric excerpt)
11. Here’s another clue for you all, the walrus was Paul. — John Lennon (“Glass Onion” (1968), lyric excerpt)
12. Listen to the colour of your dreams. — John Lennon (“Tomorrow Never Knows” (1966), lyric excerpt)
13. It is not dying. — John Lennon (“Tomorrow Never Knows” (1966), lyric excerpt)
14. Lay down all thoughts, surrender to the void. — John Lennon (“Tomorrow Never Knows” (1966), lyric excerpt)
15. Play the game Existence to the end, of the beginning. — John Lennon (“Tomorrow Never Knows” (1966), lyric excerpt)
16. Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see. — John Lennon (“Strawberry Fields Forever” (1967), lyric excerpt)
17. Nothing is real. — John Lennon (“Strawberry Fields Forever” (1967), lyric excerpt)
18. Let me take you down, ’cause I’m going to Strawberry Fields. — John Lennon (“Strawberry Fields Forever” (1967), lyric excerpt)
19. Picture yourself in a boat on a river, with tangerine trees and marmalade skies. — John Lennon (“Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” (1967), lyric excerpt)
20. Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain. — John Lennon (“Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” (1967), lyric excerpt)
21. Newspaper taxis appear on the shore. — John Lennon (“Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” (1967), lyric excerpt)
22. Climb in the back with your head in the clouds. — John Lennon (“Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” (1967), lyric excerpt)
23. Cellophane flowers of yellow and green. — John Lennon (“Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” (1967), lyric excerpt)
24. I read the news today, oh boy. — John Lennon (“A Day in the Life” (1967), lyric excerpt)
25. I’d love to turn you on. — John Lennon (“A Day in the Life” (1967), lyric excerpt)
26. Woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head. — John Lennon (“A Day in the Life” (1967), lyric excerpt)
27. Found my way downstairs and drank a cup. — John Lennon (“A Day in the Life” (1967), lyric excerpt)
28. Somebody spoke and I went into a dream. — John Lennon (“A Day in the Life” (1967), lyric excerpt)
29. He’s a real nowhere man, sitting in his nowhere land. — John Lennon (“Nowhere Man” (1965), lyric excerpt)
30. Making all his nowhere plans for nobody. — John Lennon (“Nowhere Man” (1965), lyric excerpt)
31. Listen, do you want to know a secret? — John Lennon (“Do You Want to Know a Secret” (1963), lyric excerpt)
32. Help, I need somebody, help, not just anybody. — John Lennon (“Help!” (1965), lyric excerpt)
33. When I was younger, so much younger than today. — John Lennon (“Help!” (1965), lyric excerpt)
34. I once had a girl, or should I say, she once had me. — John Lennon (“Norwegian Wood” (1965), lyric excerpt)
35. She asked me to stay and she told me to sit anywhere. — John Lennon (“Norwegian Wood” (1965), lyric excerpt)
36. In my life, I love you more. — John Lennon (“In My Life” (1965), lyric excerpt)
37. Some are dead and some are living, in my life I’ve loved them all. — John Lennon (“In My Life” (1965), lyric excerpt)
38. Is there anybody going to listen to my story, all about the girl who came to stay? — John Lennon (“Girl” (1965), lyric excerpt)
39. Hey, you’ve got to hide your love away. — John Lennon (“You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” (1965), lyric excerpt)
40. Rain, I don’t mind. — John Lennon (“Rain” (1966), lyric excerpt)

John Lennon Quotes on Life and Dreams

Fatherhood, fame and starting over — John Lennon’s reflections on life are as honest as his songs.

1. When I wake up early in the morning, lift my head, I’m still yawning. — John Lennon (“I’m Only Sleeping” (1966), lyric excerpt)
2. Before you go to sleep, say a little prayer. — John Lennon (“Beautiful Boy” (1980), lyric excerpt)
3. I’m not afraid of death because I don’t believe in it. It’s just getting out of one car and into another. — John Lennon (Interview)
4. Part of me suspects that I’m a loser, and the other part of me thinks I’m God Almighty. — John Lennon (Interview)
5. You don’t need anybody to tell you who you are or what you are. You are what you are. — John Lennon (Interview)
6. I don’t expect you to understand after you’ve caused so much pain. — John Lennon (“Isolation” (1970), lyric excerpt)
7. Who’s to say that dreams and nightmares aren’t as real as the here and now? — John Lennon (Interview)
8. Close your eyes, have no fear, the monster’s gone, he’s on the run, and your daddy’s here. — John Lennon (“Beautiful Boy” (1980), lyric excerpt)
9. Before you cross the street, take my hand. — John Lennon (“Beautiful Boy” (1980), lyric excerpt)
10. Imagine there’s no heaven. — John Lennon (“Imagine” (1971), lyric excerpt)
11. Imagine there’s no countries. — John Lennon (“Imagine” (1971), lyric excerpt)
12. Imagine no possessions. — John Lennon (“Imagine” (1971), lyric excerpt)
13. Nothing’s gonna change my world. — John Lennon (“Across the Universe” (1969), lyric excerpt)
14. And the world will be as one. — John Lennon (“Imagine” (1971), lyric excerpt)
15. Imagine all the people sharing all the world. — John Lennon (“Imagine” (1971), lyric excerpt)
16. Nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too. — John Lennon (“Imagine” (1971), lyric excerpt)
17. Imagine there’s no hell below us, above us only sky. — John Lennon (“Imagine” (1971), lyric excerpt)
18. People say I’m crazy doing what I’m doing. — John Lennon (“Watching the Wheels” (1980), lyric excerpt)
19. I’m just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round. — John Lennon (“Watching the Wheels” (1980), lyric excerpt)
20. Every day in every way, it’s getting better and better. — John Lennon (“Beautiful Boy” (1980), lyric excerpt)
21. No longer riding on the merry-go-round, I just had to let it go. — John Lennon (“Watching the Wheels” (1980), lyric excerpt)
22. So long ago, was it in a dream? — John Lennon (“#9 Dream” (1974), lyric excerpt)
23. We’re playing those mind games together. — John Lennon (“Mind Games” (1973), lyric excerpt)
24. Pushing the barriers, planting seeds. — John Lennon (“Mind Games” (1973), lyric excerpt)
25. Remember when you were young, how the hero was never hung. — John Lennon (“Remember” (1970), lyric excerpt)
26. I don’t wanna lose you. — John Lennon (“I’m Losing You” (1980), lyric excerpt)
27. People say we got it made, don’t they know we’re so afraid? — John Lennon (“Isolation” (1970), lyric excerpt)
28. Well, I don’t wanna be a soldier mama, I don’t wanna die. — John Lennon (“Well Well Well” (1970), lyric excerpt)
29. Father, you left me, but I never left you. — John Lennon (“Mother” (1970), lyric excerpt)
30. Children, don’t do what I have done. — John Lennon (“Mother” (1970), lyric excerpt)
31. I couldn’t walk and I tried to run. — John Lennon (“Mother” (1970), lyric excerpt)
32. Everybody loves you when you’re six foot in the ground. — John Lennon (“Nobody Told Me” (1984), lyric excerpt)
33. Nobody told me there’d be days like these. — John Lennon (“Nobody Told Me” (1984), lyric excerpt)
34. Look at me, who am I supposed to be? — John Lennon (“Look at Me” (1970), lyric excerpt)
35. Hold on, John, John hold on. — John Lennon (“Hold On” (1970), lyric excerpt)
36. Whatever gets you through the night, it’s alright. — John Lennon (“Whatever Gets You thru the Night” (1974), lyric excerpt)
37. Nobody loves you when you’re down and out. — John Lennon (“Nobody Loves You (When You’re Down and Out)” (1974), lyric excerpt)
38. Living on borrowed time. — John Lennon (“Borrowed Time” (1984), lyric excerpt)
39. I should have known better with a girl like you. — John Lennon (“I Should Have Known Better” (1964), lyric excerpt)
40. When I was five 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’. — Attributed to John Lennon (Widely circulated, no primary source found)

John Lennon Quotes on Freedom and Change

Rebel, activist, working-class hero — John Lennon never stopped questioning authority. These are his words on freedom and change.

1. You say you want a revolution, well, you know, we all want to change the world. — John Lennon (“Revolution” (1968), lyric excerpt)
2. But when you talk about destruction, don’t you know that you can count me out. — John Lennon (“Revolution” (1968), lyric excerpt)
3. Don’t you know it’s gonna be alright. — John Lennon (“Revolution” (1968), lyric excerpt)
4. Come together, right now, over me. — John Lennon (“Come Together” (1969), lyric excerpt)
5. Here come old flat top, he come grooving up slowly. — John Lennon (“Come Together” (1969), lyric excerpt)
6. One thing I can tell you is you got to be free. — John Lennon (“Come Together” (1969), lyric excerpt)
7. Say you want a revolution, we better get it on right away. — John Lennon (“Power to the People” (1971), lyric excerpt)
8. As soon as you’re born they make you feel small. — John Lennon (“Working Class Hero” (1970), lyric excerpt)
9. They hurt you at home and they hit you at school. — John Lennon (“Working Class Hero” (1970), lyric excerpt)
10. When they’ve tortured and scared you for twenty odd years, then they expect you to pick a career. — John Lennon (“Working Class Hero” (1970), lyric excerpt)
11. A working class hero is something to be. — John Lennon (“Working Class Hero” (1970), lyric excerpt)
12. Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV. — John Lennon (“Working Class Hero” (1970), lyric excerpt)
13. There’s room at the top they are telling you still, but first you must learn how to smile as you kill. — John Lennon (“Working Class Hero” (1970), lyric excerpt)
14. If you want to be a hero, well, just follow me. — John Lennon (“Working Class Hero” (1970), lyric excerpt)
15. I don’t believe in Beatles, I just believe in me. — John Lennon (“God” (1970), lyric excerpt)
16. God is a concept by which we measure our pain. — John Lennon (“God” (1970), lyric excerpt)
17. I don’t believe in magic. — John Lennon (“God” (1970), lyric excerpt)
18. I just believe in me, Yoko and me, and that’s reality. — John Lennon (“God” (1970), lyric excerpt)
19. The dream is over. — John Lennon (“God” (1970), lyric excerpt)
20. I’m sick and tired of hearing things from uptight, short-sighted, narrow-minded hypocrites. — John Lennon (“Gimme Some Truth” (1971), lyric excerpt)
21. All I want is the truth, just gimme some truth. — John Lennon (“Gimme Some Truth” (1971), lyric excerpt)
22. I’ve had enough of reading things by neurotic, psychotic, pig-headed politicians. — John Lennon (“Gimme Some Truth” (1971), lyric excerpt)
23. No short-haired, yellow-bellied son of tricky dicky is gonna mother hubbard soft soap me. — John Lennon (“Gimme Some Truth” (1971), lyric excerpt)
24. Just gimme some truth. — John Lennon (“Gimme Some Truth” (1971), lyric excerpt)
25. We’re more popular than Jesus now. — John Lennon (Interview, 1966)
26. I don’t know which will go first, rock ‘n’ roll or Christianity. — John Lennon (Interview, 1966)
27. Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. — John Lennon (Interview, 1966)
28. Don’t let me down, don’t let me down. — John Lennon (“Don’t Let Me Down” (1969), lyric excerpt)
29. Nobody ever loved me like she does. — John Lennon (“Don’t Let Me Down” (1969), lyric excerpt)
30. I’m in love for the first time. — John Lennon (“Don’t Let Me Down” (1969), lyric excerpt)
31. Cry baby cry, make your mother sigh. — John Lennon (“Cry Baby Cry” (1968), lyric excerpt)
32. Yes I’m lonely, wanna die. — John Lennon (“Yer Blues” (1968), lyric excerpt)
33. I’m so tired, I haven’t slept a wink. — John Lennon (“I’m So Tired” (1968), lyric excerpt)
34. Sexy Sadie, what have you done? — John Lennon (“Sexy Sadie” (1968), lyric excerpt)
35. Everybody’s got something to hide except me and my monkey. — John Lennon (“Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey” (1968), lyric excerpt)
36. I dig a pony. — John Lennon (“Dig a Pony” (1970), lyric excerpt)
37. Because the wind is high, it blows my mind. — John Lennon (“Dig a Pony” (1970), lyric excerpt)
38. All I want is you. — John Lennon (“Dig a Pony” (1970), lyric excerpt)
39. Dear Prudence, open up your eyes. — John Lennon (“Dear Prudence” (1968), lyric excerpt)
40. The sun is up, the sky is blue, it’s beautiful, and so are you. — John Lennon (“Dear Prudence” (1968), lyric excerpt)

John Lennon Quotes on Wisdom and Reflection

Behind the icon was a restless thinker. These reflections come from late interviews and his most searching songs.

1. A mistake is only an error, it becomes a mistake when you fail to correct it. — Attributed to John Lennon (Widely circulated, no primary source found)
2. The more I see, the less I know for sure. — Attributed to John Lennon (Widely circulated, no primary source found)
3. You tell me it’s the institution, well, you know, you better free your mind instead. — John Lennon (“Revolution” (1968), lyric excerpt)
4. Peace is not something you wish for; it’s something you make, something you do, something you are, and something you give away. — Attributed to John Lennon (Widely circulated, no primary source found)
5. One thing you can’t hide is when you’re crippled inside. — John Lennon (“Crippled Inside” (1971), lyric excerpt)
6. You can shine your shoes and wear a suit. — John Lennon (“Crippled Inside” (1971), lyric excerpt)
7. You can go to church and sing a hymn. — John Lennon (“Crippled Inside” (1971), lyric excerpt)
8. You can live a lie until you die. — John Lennon (“Crippled Inside” (1971), lyric excerpt)
9. How can I go forward when I don’t know which way I’m facing? — John Lennon (“How?” (1971), lyric excerpt)
10. The queen is in the counting house. — John Lennon (“Cleanup Time” (1980), lyric excerpt)
11. Here in the valley of indecision, I don’t know what to do. — John Lennon (“I’m Losing You” (1980), lyric excerpt)
12. So Sgt. Pepper took you by surprise. — John Lennon (“How Do You Sleep?” (1971), lyric excerpt)
13. The only thing you’ve done was yesterday. — John Lennon (“How Do You Sleep?” (1971), lyric excerpt)
14. And since you’ve gone you’re just another day. — John Lennon (“How Do You Sleep?” (1971), lyric excerpt)
15. A pretty face may last a year or two, but pretty soon they’ll see what you can do. — John Lennon (“How Do You Sleep?” (1971), lyric excerpt)
16. All that I know is just what you tell me. — John Lennon (“Aisumasen (I’m Sorry)” (1973), lyric excerpt)
17. I found out! — John Lennon (“I Found Out” (1970), lyric excerpt)
18. There’s nothing you can know that isn’t known. — John Lennon (“All You Need Is Love” (1967), lyric excerpt)
19. It’s easy. — John Lennon (“All You Need Is Love” (1967), lyric excerpt)
20. Say the word and you’ll be free. — John Lennon (“The Word” (1965), lyric excerpt)
21. Instant karma’s gonna get you. — John Lennon (“Instant Karma!” (1970), lyric excerpt)
22. You better get yourself together. — John Lennon (“Instant Karma!” (1970), lyric excerpt)
23. Who on earth do you think you are? A superstar? Well, right you are. — John Lennon (“Instant Karma!” (1970), lyric excerpt)
24. And we all shine on. — John Lennon (“Instant Karma!” (1970), lyric excerpt)
25. I am the eggman, they are the eggmen. — John Lennon (“I Am the Walrus” (1967), lyric excerpt)
26. Sitting in an English garden waiting for the sun. — John Lennon (“I Am the Walrus” (1967), lyric excerpt)
27. Strawberry fields forever. — John Lennon (“Strawberry Fields Forever” (1967), lyric excerpt)
28. It doesn’t matter how long my hair is or what color my skin is or whether I’m a woman or a man. — John Lennon (Interview)
29. Possession isn’t nine-tenths of the law. It’s nine-tenths of the problem. — John Lennon (Interview)
30. Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. — John Lennon (Interview)
31. When you’re drowning, you don’t say ‘I would be incredibly pleased if someone would have the foresight to notice me drowning and come and help me,’ you just scream. — John Lennon (Interview)
32. The thing the sixties did was to show us the possibilities and the responsibility that we all had. — John Lennon (Interview)
33. I’m a violent man who has learned not to be violent and regrets his violence. — John Lennon (Interview)
34. I used to be cruel to my woman, and physically, any woman. I was a hitter. — John Lennon (Interview)
35. As usual, there is a great woman behind every idiot. — John Lennon (Interview)
36. I’m just a jealous guy. — John Lennon (“Jealous Guy” (1971), lyric excerpt)
37. The establishment will irritate you, pull your beard, flick your face, to make you fight. — John Lennon (Interview)
38. Love is all and love is everyone. — John Lennon (“Tomorrow Never Knows” (1966), lyric excerpt)
39. I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. — John Lennon (Interview)
40. I didn’t mean to hurt you, I’m sorry that I made you cry. — John Lennon (“Jealous Guy” (1971), lyric excerpt)

FAQs About John Lennon Quotes

What is John Lennon’s most famous quote?

His most famous lines include “Imagine all the people living life in peace,” “All we are saying is give peace a chance,” and “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans” — all included above with their sources.

Did John Lennon really say “imagine all the people”?

Yes — it is the chorus of his 1971 song “Imagine,” one of the most recorded songs in history.

Are all John Lennon quotes on the internet real?

No — many lines circulating online have no verified source. In this collection, any line without a confirmable primary source is clearly marked as attributed rather than presented as a definite quote.

Who was John Lennon?

John Lennon (1940–1980) was an English singer, songwriter and peace activist, co-founder of the Beatles. Read more in his Wikipedia biography.

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Learn more about his life and career: John Lennon on Wikipedia.