John Lennon quotes:

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John Lennon was definitely my favorite Beatle, hands down. -- Kurt Cobain
After my husband John Lennon passed away, I tried to smile for my health. -- Yoko Ono
I truly miss the genius of the music of John Lennon, as I'm sure everybody does. -- Peter Fonda
I was still 15 when I met John Lennon at a village fete in Woolton, in Liverpool. -- Paul McCartney
As far as I'm concerned, there won't be a Beatles reunion as long as John Lennon remains dead. -- George Harrison
I want to be like Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, and John Lennon... but I want to stay alive. -- Madonna Ciccone
To me, John Lennon and Elvis Presley were punks, because they made music that evoked those emotions in people. -- Joey Ramone
To be quite honest, John Lennon had questionable politics. There was a flip side. He was all peace and love, but he was a very violent character. -- Noel Gallagher
I worked in Licorice Pizza when John Lennon was killed. I had the day off, but I came in anyway because people needed a place to mourn. -- Gary Calamar
We live in a country where John Lennon takes eight bullets, Yoko Ono is walking right beside him and not one hits her. Explain that to me! -- Denis Leary
It would be great to have Bach in one corner, Bessie Smith in another, John Lennon in another. That's what I'd ideally like. A studio of the dead. -- Jools Holland
My husband John Lennon was a very special man. A man of humble origin, he brought light and hope to the whole world with his words and music. -- Yoko Ono
I think what made John Lennon so exciting as an artist is that, like Dylan and other musicians with a truly important musical legacy, he had several faces, personas that changed over time as he developed. -- Randy Bachman
With every song that I write, I compare it to the Beatles. The thing is, they only got there before me. If I'd been born at the same time as John Lennon, I'd have been up there. -- Noel Gallagher
It's a cliche, but John Lennon is my hero. He was so rebellious, so outspoken and so publicly opinionated, and I'm someone who's so private. I suppose you admire people who have the qualities you wish you had. -- Emun Elliott
John Lennon was a musical genius. All I have to do is think of some of his songs and even the titles make me feel good... and I'm not the only one. His music has crossed cultures and even generations. -- Ray Comfort
I wanted to have the adoration of John Lennon but have the anonymity of Ringo Starr. I didn't want to be a frontman. I just wanted to be back there and still be a rock and roll star at the same time. -- Kurt Cobain
You ready? I have gold teeth, I have braids, I'm wearing Rick Owens moon boots, I have rips in my denim, a biker vest, I love artsy girls, my favourite artists are Jimi Hendrix and John Lennon. I'm obsessed with being different. -- ASAP Rocky
I realized that it's all really one, that John Lennon was correct. We utilize the music to bring down the walls of Berlin, to bring up the force of compassion and forgiveness and kindness between Palestines, Hebrews. Bring down the walls here in San Diego, Tijuana, Cuba. -- Carlos Santana
I keep mementos from everything I've done. I've got my cab driver's license from 'Happiness.' I've got a pair of glasses and a belt buckle from playing John Lennon. I've got a pair of sunglasses from playing Andy Warhol... It's all in a box in the garage. -- Jared Harris
When people ask me who I'd want to have dinner with, dead or alive, I always say, 'John Lennon.' I just feel that he was an artist who was, in his own way, committed to wholeness and authenticity in a not dissimilar way that I am years later. -- Alanis Morissette
Imagine if someone like John Lennon or Bob Marley, Sid Vicious, Picasso, whomever, were doing their work, and some corporation, some CEO, some branding entity was saying to you, 'Well, you can do that, but you've got to remove this aspect of your work.' There would no longer be that purity anymore. -- Madonna Ciccone
I love Soul, R+B, Electronic, and good pop. Really, the only thing I don't listen to is country and heavy metal. I love Marvin Gaye, John Legend, Al Green, Fat Freddys Drop, Sade, Grace Jones, Bazoo Bijou, Prince, John Lennon, London Grammar, Daft Punk, Dr John, Dusty Springfield, Peggy Lee, Gotye, and on it goes. -- Jane Badler
We don't sign an artist to fill a void, ever. I'll never find a Taylor Swift. You can't find a new Madonna, you cannot find a Prince, a Bob Marley, a John Lennon. You won't find another Kanye West. We simply deal with people as they walk in, and we say we either love them or we don't. -- L.A. Reid
Every time a new rock singer comes out they don't say, 'Are you the new John Lennon?' Every time a new rapper comes out, it's not, 'Are you the new Dre?' I am never sure why this sort of genre, the categorization is so strong. I have not earned the right to be called the young Sinatra, but give me time. -- Michael Buble
My heroes were Dylan, John Lennon and Picasso, because they each moved their particular medium forward, and when they got to the point where they were comfortable, they always moved on. -- John Hughes
I just shot John Lennon. -- Mark David Chapman
I only have one idol: John Lennon. -- Michael Hirst
The Tanakh says John Lennon is wrong. -- Daniel Gordis
John Lennon was very irreverent and very intelligent. -- Brenda Lee
Imagine? Yeah I can imagine John Lennon being dead. -- Thom Yorke
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I really didn't mean to hurt anybody. I liked John Lennon. -- Mark David Chapman
I willingly took John Lennon's life. What I did was despicable. -- Mark David Chapman
Jean-Baptiste Mondino: "She's John Lennon and Yoko Ono at the same time". -- Madonna Ciccone
Artists are magicians and I definitely think John Lennon was a Wizard. -- Yoko Ono
The only good thing about America is that you killed John Lennon. -- Nicky Wire
There are not many places to go once you've killed someone like John Lennon. -- Mark David Chapman
If John Lennon is deported, I'm leaving too...with my musicians..and my marijuana. -- Art Garfunkel
I grew up in Greenwich Village. Dad was friends with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. -- Yancy Butler
I met John Lennon and he was with his wife in Tokyo. I met him there. -- Bryan Ferry
Most of the fans of John Lennon and maybe John and Yoko are younger than me. -- Yoko Ono
The work of John Lennon was marked by its exquisite beauty and by its brutal honesty. -- Kevin Spacey
Gentlemen, haven't we learned anything from the music of John Lennon? All we need is love. -- Robin Williams
I like the Beatles. They're at the core of my musicality. And John Lennon's my spiritual father. -- Esai Morales
John Lennon was brilliant, so gifted, so giving. He was the Bach, Beethoven, the Rachmaninoff of our time. -- Sid Bernstein
If one could have a wish, or an alternative life, I would've liked to have been John Lennon. -- Gary Oldman
I'm not like John Lennon, who thought he was the great Almighty. I just think I'm John Lennon. -- Liam Gallagher
Yoko Ono never deserved any of the hate she got. Paul McCartney and John Lennon weren't getting along. -- Patrick Stump
Over 1,057,000 people have been killed by guns in the USA since John Lennon was shot and killed on 8 Dec 1980, -- Yoko Ono
Paul McCartney and John Lennon would often write a song a day, so I have the same workmanlike philosophy. -- Jason Mraz
It was endlessly amusing to me to try to imitate John Lennon and Paul McCartney's harmonies using the guitar. -- M. Ward
When people get cynical about love, they should look at us [Yoko and John Lennon] and see it is possible -- Yoko Ono
There weren't a lot of girl singers around. Paul McCartney and John Lennon were the guys I looked up to. -- Rick Springfield
Let's say honorary favorite New Yorker is John Lennon, and favorite real New Yorker is Biggie, because he's the best. -- Paul Dano
The reason the rest of us remember, like, when John Lennon died, is because it's a moment when adrenaline is surging. -- Sarah Silverman
I smoked 20 cigarettes to get that sound because I'd read that John Lennon smoked a load of cigarettes on "Twist and Shout". -- Steve Diggle
It's bad enough being conned into singing an anti-war message by John Lennon when you think you're just wishing everyone a merry Christmas. -- Ian Watson
Why is this generation looking to aging icons like John Lennon and Bob Dylan for inspiration? Why not raising up their own icons? -- Tucker Carlson
John Lennon and Ringo Starr liked my songs. I used to write songs and they heard me sing songs on stage in London. -- Ben Kingsley
I bought [John Lennon's] 'Plastic Ono Band,' and I listened to it over and over for months. It's a monumental work of genius... -- Lenny Kravitz
It's mostly just you have to convince yourself that there's nothing else in the room but John Lennon and suddenly things start John Lennon-ing! -- Grant Morrison
Music doesn't always bring me to tears; if I hear "Love" by John Lennon at a vulnerable moment it will bring me to tears. -- Lou Barlow
The loss of Jerry Garcia feels like the end of an era in the same way it felt when Elvis died and John Lennon was killed. -- Lyle Lovett
The thing you must remember is that I'm the Number One John Lennon fan. I love him to this day and I always did love him -- Paul McCartney
I feel that I see John Lennon now as not a celebrity. I did then. I saw him as a cardboard cutout on an album cover. -- Mark David Chapman
People say the Beatles were John Lennon. What is Paul McCartney? Chopped liver? But everyone has their own favourite members whose creativity they gravitate to. That's normal. -- Mike Love
If you look at someone like Joe Strummer or John Lennon, when you heard their music you knew that they wrote it and they cared about it. -- Moby
In both word and deed, one of the greatest idlers of all time was John Lennon. In his songs we see repeated defences of simply lying around doing nothing. -- Tom Hodgkinson
Marvin Gaye is our John Lennon. The longer he's gone, the more young people appreciate his art. 'What's Going On' was a work of genius far ahead of it's time. -- Janet Jackson
George Harrison and John Lennon were the ones most against touring ... I'd been trying to say ..Ah, tourings good and it keeps us sharp .. but finally I agreed with them -- Paul McCartney
I like people like Ani DiFranco, a band called Elbow, of course John Lennon, George Harrison, Barry White. I have a lot of different influences and hopefully they all come together and make some sense. -- Billy Boyd
Empires, essentially, create order. In their absence, you don't end up with lots of happy, little nation-states full of people sitting around campfires singing John Lennon's "Imagine." What you end up with is civil war, anarchy. -- Niall Ferguson
Working on my own vocals is something I've been avoiding. But, I'm constantly thinking of ways to be able to include my own vocals without getting embarrassed. Even John Lennon wasn't comfortable on hearing his voice. -- Hans-Peter LindstrÃ¸m
If The Beatles represent the most successful version you can be of a thing, then by that definition The Rolling Stones are The Beatles of music, not counting The Beatles. John Lennon is The Beatles of The Beatles. -- Dana Gould
I spent many years trying to write a lot like Ben Folds or John Lennon or Rivers Cuomo. I think that's healthy when you're learning to write and seeing how chords fit together and how songs take shape. -- Andrew Dost
John Lennon at his best despised cheap sentiment and had to learn the hard way that once you've made your mark on history those who can't will be so grateful they'll turn it into a cage for you. -- Lester Bangs
Bob Dylan and John Lennon and Bruce Springsteen, these are soul guys. Bruce Springsteen might not sing like Otis Redding, but he sings with white soul. He's singing and he's writing songs from the bottom of his gut. -- Robin Thicke
When your hair is rising, that's when you know it's a good song - that's happened to me with some artists and some songs, John Lennon songs or when Nina Simone sings. It's great to make those moments yourself. -- Jose Gonzalez
Men have a lot less to write about, unless you're somebody like Tom Waits or John Lennon. And the female voice is much more suited to melody. Men have this barky thing - we're domesticated apes with a microphone. -- Brandon Boyd
The Beatles never sounded intimidated by their idols. They never interpreted old rock; they simply played it as well and as joyfully as they knew how. On 'Rock 'n' Roll,' John Lennon does nothing but interpret old rock. -- Jon Landau
If John Lennon was right that life is what happens when you're making other plans, parenthood is what happens when everything is flipped over and spilling everywhere and you can't find a towel or a sponge or your "inside" voice. -- Kelly Corrigan
John Lennon, who was a good friend of mine, he had one of the best senses of humor of any human being. And Keith Richards, fantastic sense of humor. They were smart, sharp. They had their own thoughts on matters. -- Bobby Keys
I was really into music. I started playing guitar also when I was nine. I wanted to be in the Beatles, even though John Lennon died the year I got a guitar and the Beatles broke up before I was born. -- Tig Notaro
I listen to the Beatles all the time - in my car, at the gym. The Beatles are still part of my life. And because of that, John Lennon - in life and in death - remains part of my life. -- Laurence Shames
After the shooting of John Lennon and the early death of so many great stars and the utter naked venal mercantile marketing of pop music and rock music, I don't think anyone really believes that music is anything more than another commodity. -- Stephen Fry
But even with no money you could still go to places like the Scotch Club and, you know, John Lennon might be sitting right over there, but I was certainly not a part of any of that circle. I was truly peripheral. -- Donald Sutherland
The Beatles' did whatever they wanted. They were a collection of influences adapted to songs they wanted to write. George Harrison was instrumental in bringing in Indian music. Paul McCartney was a huge Little Richard fan. John Lennon was into minimalist aggressive rock. -- Chris Cornell
'The Beatles' did whatever they wanted. They were a collection of influences adapted to songs they wanted to write. George Harrison was instrumental in bringing in Indian music. Paul McCartney was a huge Little Richard fan. John Lennon was into minimalist aggressive rock. -- Chris Cornell
DAYS THAT I'LL REMEMBER is a lovingly assembled and beautifully written collection of conversations, observations, and memories of music, friendship, and days gone by. It's good to be back again with John Lennon, his beloved Yoko Ono, and his trusted chronicler and friend Jonathan Cott. -- Martin Scorsese
I just saw a girl who said she saw John Lennon walking down the street in New York wearing a button that said, "I love Paul." She asked him: "Why are you wearing an 'I love Paul' button?", and he said: "Because I love Paul. -- Harry Nilsson
I would have loved to record with Paul McCartney on some of his early solo recordings, wonderful music. Playing some lovely organ, perhaps. I would have loved to record with John Lennon. He was a dear friend. I had lunch with him just two days before he died. -- Rick Wakeman
The world is split into two kinds of people, those who would go out for a drink with John Lennon, and those who`d choose Paul McCartney ... After the Beatles came back from India, Lennon wrote `Happiness Is a Warm Gun` and McCartney wrote `Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da`. End of argument. -- Paul Bettany
You know the John Lennon song 'Imagine'? 'Imagine no possessions, no religion'? That's what it was like in Cambodia. The only thing people had was a spoon, for eating the daily pourridge. And that pourridge was grossly insufficient for the work they were made to do in the fields. -- Sophal Ear
John Lennon imagined a world filled with peace and love. Martin Luther King dreamt of a world free from racial discrimination and oppression. The guy who invented the Frisbee, dreamt of a world where people would throw a fat, circular object at each other in order to pass the time. He succeeded. -- Jon Lajoie
I think maybe what happened was the convenience of technology overshadowed the experience of holding an album in your hands, and sitting on your bedroom floor, and staring at a picture of John Lennon or Gene Simmons or Johnny Rotten. That tangible experience can sometimes become an even more emotional experience, because it's really happening. -- Dave Grohl
I got this Christmas gift with the entire Beatles catalog. I had fun trying to duplicate what I was hearing on these records, only using the instruments I had at hand - an acoustic guitar, and that's all. It was endlessly amusing to me to try to imitate John Lennon and Paul McCartney's harmonies using the guitar. -- M. Ward
I Want To Hold Your Hand' is a great classic by Paul McCartney and John Lennon, I sure love that song. I did like the classic version, a rock-oriented song, then someone heard me do it with the Grant Green approach - Grant Green and Larry Young did it, with a bossa nova beat on the funky side. -- George Benson
Everyone eventually winds up writing about themselves - the problem is finding the best way to go about it. To write about oneself literally, in the first person, presumes a more interesting personal life and philosophy than most rock lyricists possess. John Lennon was good for one great album based on musical direct address, 'Plastic Ono Band.' -- Jon Landau
I don't like to waste notes, not even one. I like to put the right note in the right place, and my influences have always been those kinds of players. Keith Richards comes to mind, and I really like Nils Lofgren's soloing, because he's so melodic. I love John Lennon's rhythm playing, and George Harrison was an incredible guitarist. -- Johnny Marr
Did you ever stop to thnk about all the people we kill? They're always people who tell us to live together in harmony and try to love one another: Jesus, Ghandi, Lincoln, John Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, John Lennon. They all said: 'Try to live together peacefully.' BAM! Right in the f--in head! Aparently we're not ready for that! -- George Carlin
I am not John Lennon; I never will be! -- Julian Lennon
I was always nervous to play my father's [John Lennon's] songs. -- Sean Lennon
I'm lucky to have had a father [John Lennon] who paid attention. -- Sean Lennon
I'm not John Lennon. I'm John Lennox. Now, 'imagine a world without' Stalin. The New Atheists are often silent about [the wrong done by atheists]. -- John Lennox
He [George Harrison] told me he really, really admired John [Lennon]. He probably wanted John's acceptance pretty bad, you know? -- Tom Petty
anyone who sings about love and harmony and life [john lennon] is dangerous to someone who sings about death and killing and subduing [Nixon] -- Gore Vidal
I once asked [John] Lennon what he thought of what I do. He said 'it's great, but its just rock and roll with lipstick on'. -- David Bowie
We are very lucky really, because we can create our own reality, John [Lennon] and me, but we know the important thing is to communicate with other people. -- Yoko Ono
When I write, there are times -- not always -- when I hear John (Lennon) in my head, ... I'll think, OK, what would we have done here?, and I can hear him gripe or approve. -- Paul McCartney

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