John Lennon was born on the 9th October, 1940. He was an English singer / songwriter and one of the founding members of the 1960s supergroup The Beatles.
Like most of the group’s members he was born and raised in the English city of Liverpool. The Beatles were formed in 1960. Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and the late George Harrison were the other members of The Beatles.
He revealed a rebellious nature in his music, his writing, on film and in interviews. He became controversial through his work as a peace activist. He moved to New York City in 1971. The Nixon administration tried without success to deport him from the US.
John Lennon was a major critic of the Vietnam War. His debut solo album sold more than 14 million copies in the United States. He would have been 70 years old on the 9th October 2010.
He was killed at age 40 on the 8th of December 1980 in New York City when Mark David Chapman shot him. He had an immense influence on music in the 20th Century. He also said a few interesting things while he was alive.
Here are 22 legendary John Lennon quotes
1. “All we are saying is give peace a chance.”
2. “You have to be a bastard to make it, and that’s a fact. And the Beatles are the biggest bastards on earth.”
3. “Will the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands? And the rest of you, if you’ll just rattle your jewelry.”
4. “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.”
5. “We’ve got this gift of love, but love is like a precious plant. You can’t just accept it and leave it in the cupboard or just think it’s going to get on by itself. You’ve got to keep watering it. You’ve got to really look after it and nurture it.”
6. “We were all on this ship in the sixties, our generation, a ship going to discover the New World. And the Beatles were in the crow’s nest of that ship.”
7. “Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted.”
8. “My role in society, or any artist’s or poet’s role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all.”
9. “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.”
10. “The more I see the less I know for sure.”
11. “The postman wants an autograph. The cab driver wants a picture. The waitress wants a handshake. Everyone wants a piece of you.”
12. “Surrealism had a great effect on me because then I realised that the imagery in my mind wasn’t insanity. Surrealism to me is reality.”
13. “Possession isn’t nine-tenths of the law. It’s nine-tenths of the problem.”
14. “Music is everybody’s possession. It’s only publishers who think that people own it.”
15. “Love is the answer, and you know that for sure; Love is a flower, you’ve got to let it grow.”
16. “Guilt for being rich, and guilt thinking that perhaps love and peace isn’t enough and you have to go and get shot or something.”
17. “I believe in everything until it’s disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it’s in your mind. Who’s to say that dreams and nightmares aren’t as real as the here and now?”
18. “I don’t believe in killing whatever the reason!”
19. “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. So I’ve been a freak all my life and I have to live with that, you know. I’m one of those people.”
20. “If being an egomaniac means I believe in what I do and in my art or music, then in that respect you can call me that… I believe in what I do, and I’ll say it.”
21. “If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there’d be peace.”
22. “If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it ‘Chuck Berry‘.”
For those of you who don’t who John Lennon was, maybe this music video for Imagine will ring a bell:
There you have it, some quotations from John Lennon. I have not posted in this section for a while and I’m glad that I was able to tackle it again.
Watch this space for regular updates in the Quotes category on Running Wolf’s Rant.
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