John Lennon's best quotes

9 October 2018, 14:13 | Updated: 6 December 2018, 14:18

John Lennon, 1940-1980. He was a musician, singer, guitarist, campaigner and one of the biggest artists of the 20th Century. Here's his philosophy, in his own words.

1. “Life is what happens to you, While you're busy making other plans.”

   Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy), 1980

   

2. "I've always been politically minded and against the status quo.”

   Red Mole, 1971

   

3. “The only way to deal with critics is to go over their heads direct to the public.”

   Rolling Stone, December 1980

   

4. “God is a concept by which we measure our pain.”

   God, 1970

   

5. "I was a working-class macho guy who was used to being served and Yoko didn't buy that.”

   Newsweek, September 1980

   

6. “The Beatles music died then, as musicians. That’s why we never improved as musicians; we killed ourselves then to make it. And that was the end of it.”

   Rolling Stone, December 1970

   

7. "Part of me suspects that I'm a loser and the other part of me thinks I'm God Almighty.”

   Playboy, 1980

   

8. “It just seemed natural for us, if we made an album together, for both of us to be naked.”

   Rolling Stone, September 1968

   

9. “Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink.”

   “I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first – rock 'n' roll or Christianity.” Evening Standard, 1966

   

10. “It's better to fade away like an old soldier than to burn out.”

    Playboy, 1980

    

11. “I no longer believe in myth, and Beatles is another myth. The dream is over.”

    Rolling Stone, December 1970

    

12. “I like rock and roll, man, I don’t like much else.”

    Rolling Stone, December 1970

    

13. “A genius is a form of madness, and we’re all that way, you know.”

    Rolling Stone, 1970

    

14. “There's no other time but the present. Anything else is a waste of time.”

    Melody Maker, October 1971

    

15. “The Beatles gave everything they had to give, and more. Going back to the Beatles would be like going back to school.”

    Newsweek, September 1980

    

16. “THEY, whoever they are, don't stand a chance because they can't beat love.”

    Man Of The Decade, ITV, December 1969

    

17. “Paul rang me up. He said he was putting out an album. So I said, 'Good luck to yer.'"

    Penthouse, 1971

    

18. “Before Elvis there was nothing.”

    

19. “If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there’d be peace.”

    

20. "Art is only a way of expressing pain.”

    Red Mole, 1971