Musician, singer, guitarist, campaigner and one of the biggest artists of the 20th Century. Here's his philosophy, in his own words.
"I've always been politically minded and against the status quo.”
Red Mole, 1971
“The only way to deal with critics is to go over their heads direct to the public.”
Rolling Stone, December 1980
“Life is what happens to you, While you're busy making other plans.”
Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy), 1980
“God is a concept by which we measure our pain.”
God, 1970
"I was a working-class macho guy who was used to being served and Yoko didn't buy that.”
Newsweek, September 1980
“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
"Part of me suspects that I'm a loser and the other part of me thinks I'm God Almighty.”
Playboy, 1980
“It just seemed natural for us, if we made an album together, for both of us to be naked.”
Rolling Stone, September 1968
“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
“It's better to fade away like an old soldier than to burn out.”
Playboy, 1980
“I no longer believe in myth, and Beatles is another myth. The dream is over.”
Rolling Stone, December 1970
“I like rock and roll, man, I don’t like much else.”
Rolling Stone, December 1970
“A genius is a form of madness, and we’re all that way, you know.”
Rolling Stone, 1970
“There's no other time but the present. Anything else is a waste of time.”
Melody Maker, October 1971
“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
“THEY, whoever they are, don't stand a chance because they can't beat love.”
Man Of The Decade, ITV, December 1969
“If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there’d be peace.”