Everything is as important as everything else.
On influences, p. 8
I wouldn't say I was a born writer; I'm a born thinker.
p. 9
All kids draw and write poetry and everything, and some of us last until we're about eighteen, but most drop off at about twelve when some guy comes up and says, "You're no good." That's all we get told all our lives. "You haven't got the ability. You're a cobbler." It happened to all of us, but if somebody had told me all my life, "Yeah, you're a great artist," I would have been a more secure person.

p. 9
I don't mind people putting us down, because if everybody really liked us, it would be a bore. You've got to have people putting you down. It doesn't give any edge to it if everybody just falls flat on their face saying, "You're great." We enjoy some of the criticisms as well, they're quite funny; some of the clever criticisms, not the ones that don't know anything, but some of the clever ones are quite fun.
p. 120
Happiness is just how you feel when you don't feel miserable.
p. 171
We must always remember to thank the CIA and the Army for LSD, by the way. Everything is the opposite of what it is, isn't it? They brought out LSD to control people, and what they did was give us freedom. Sometimes it works in mysterious ways its wonders to perform. But it sure as hell performs them. If you look a the government report book on acid, the only ones who jumped out of windows because of it were the ones in the Army. I never knew anybody who jumped out of a window or killed themselves because of it.
p. 179
I've never met anybody who's had a flashback in my life and I took millions of trips in the Sixties, and I've never met anybody who had any problem. I've had bad trips, but I've had bad trips in real life. I've had a bad trip on a joint. I can get paranoid just sitting in a restaurant; I don't have to take anything.
p. 180
I don't need to go to church. I respect churches because of the sacredness that's been put on them over the years by people who do believe. But I think a lot of bad things have happened in the name of the church and in the name of Christ. Therefore I shy away from church, and as Donovan once said, "I go to my own church in my own temple once a day." And I think people who need a church should go. And the others who know the church is in your own head should visit that temple because that's where the source is. We're all God. Christ said, "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you." And the Indians say that and the Zen people say that. We're all God. I'm not a god or the God, but we're all God and we're all potentially divine — and potentially evil. We all have everything within us and the Kingdom of Heaven is nigh and within us, and if you look hard enough you'll see it.
p. 226
Don't believe that jazz about there's nothing you can do, "turn on and drop out, man" — because you've got to turn on and drop in, or they're going to drop all over you.
p. 263
She forced me to become avant-garde and take my clothes off, when all I wanted was to be Tom Jones.
p. 300
I think a label like "avant-garde" defeats itself. You learn to have avant-garde exhibitions. The very fact that avant-garde can have an exhibition defeats the purpose of avant-garde, because it's already formalised and ritualised.
p. 301
[
Lyrics

You say you want a revolution,
Well, you know, we all want to change the world...
But when you talk about destruction,
Don't you know that you can count me out.

There's nothing you can do that can't be done
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game
It's easy.

All you need is love.

Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see.
It's getting hard to be someone but it all works out.
It doesn't matter much to me.

Christ, you know it ain't easy
You know how hard it can be
The way things are going,
they're going to crucify me.

We're only trying to get us some peace.
Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come.
"I Am The Walrus"
You say you want a revolution,
Well, you know, we all want to change the world...
But when you talk about destruction,
Don't you know that you can count me out.
"Revolution" (Single version)
Variant: You say you want a revolution,
Well, you know, we all want to change the world...
But when you talk about destruction,
Don't you know that you can count me out — in.
"Revolution 1" - The Beatles [White Album] version (in this recorded performance of the song, Lennon interjects "in", after saying "count me out").
There's nothing you can do that can't be done
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game
It's easy.

All you need is love.
"All You Need Is Love"
There are places I remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain
"In my life"
These memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new.
"In my life"
The Walrus was Paul!
"Glass Onion"
All we are saying is give peace a chance!
"Give Peace a Chance"
For the benefit of Mr. Kite
there will be a show tonight on trampoline.
"Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" (1967)
Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see.
It's getting hard to be someone but it all works out.
It doesn't matter much to me.

Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields.
Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about.
Strawberry Fields forever.
"Strawberry Fields Forever" (1967)
Half of what I say is meaningless
But I say it just to reach you
Julia.
"Julia" on The Beatles (1968); these lines were adapted from lines of Sand and Foam (1926) by Khalil Gibran: "Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it so that the other half may reach you"; for more info see The Beatles Bible
When I cannot sing my heart, I can only speak my mind.
"Julia" (1968); these lines were adapted from lines of Sand and Foam (1926) by Khalil Gibran: "When life does not find a singer to sing her heart she produces a philosopher to speak her mind."
You say you want a Revolution; you better get it on right away.
"Power to the People"
Christ, you know it ain't easy
You know how hard it can be.
The way things are going,
they're going to crucify me.
"Ballad of John and Yoko" (1969)
The newspapers said,
"Say, what you're doing in bed?"
I said "We're only trying to get us some peace."
"Ballad of John and Yoko" (1969), referring to his "bed-in" honeymoon of March 1969.
[edit]
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970)

God is a concept by which we measure our pain.

I was the dreamweaver, but now I'm reborn...
Mother, you had me, but I never had you.
"Mother"
They hate you if you're clever, and they despise a fool.
"Working Class Hero"
They keep you doped with religion and sex and TV,
And you think you're so clever, and classless and free,
But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see.
"Working Class Hero"
God is a concept by which we measure our pain.
"God"
I don't believe in Elvis
I don't believe in Zimmerman
I don't believe in Beatles.
I just believe in me
Yoko and me
And that's reality.
"God"
I was the dreamweaver, but now I'm reborn
I was the Walrus, but now I'm John
And so dear friends, you'll just have to carry on
The dream is over.
"God"
[edit]
Imagine (1971)

Imagine all the people
living life in peace...

Imagine there's no countries,
It isnt hard to do…

You may say I'm a dreamer, but Im not the only one. I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.
Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people
living for today...
"Imagine
Imagine there's no countries,
It isnt hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer,
but I'm not the only one.
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will be as one.
"Imagine"
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
"Imagine"
How can I give love when I don't know what it is I'm giving?
"How?"
[edit]
Mind Games (1973)

Some call it magic — the search for the grail.
Love is the answer and you know that for sure.
Love is a flower, you got to let it — you got to let it grow.

Yes is the answer and you know that for sure … Millions of mind guerrillas
Putting their soul power to the karmic wheel.
We're playing those mind games together
Pushing the barriers, planting seeds
Playing the mind guerrilla
Chanting the mantra, Peace on Earth.
"Mind Games" — Video of Lennon's performance on YouTube - Performance by Kevin Spacey in Come Together: A Night for John Lennon's Words and Music (2001)
We all been playing those mind games forever
Some kinda druid dudes lifting the veil.
Doing the mind guerrilla,
Some call it magic — the search for the grail.

Love is the answer and you know that for sure.
Love is a flower, you got to let it — you got to let it grow.
"Mind Games"
Yes is the answer and you know that for sure.
Yes is surrender, you got to let it, you got to let it go…
"Mind Games"
So keep on playing those mind games together
Doing the ritual dance in the sun.
Millions of mind guerrillas
Putting their soul power to the karmic wheel.
"Mind Games"
I want you to make love, not war — I know you've heard it before.
"Mind Games" — the final fading statement on the track.
[edit]
Double Fantasy (1980)

I love you
Now and forever.
Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.
"Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)"; similar expressions were used by others prior to Lennon's use of this line, and have been attributed to Betty Talmadge, Thomas La Mance, Margarate Millar, William Gaddis, and Lily Tomlin, but the earliest known published occurrence was the 1957 attribution of "Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans." to Allen Saunders in Reader's Digest, according to The Quote Verifier : Who Said What, Where, and When (2006) by Ralph Keyes
There are no problems, only solutions.
"Watching the Wheels"
I know you understand the little child inside of your man.
"Woman"
Woman, please let me explain
I never meant to cause you sorrow or pain
So let me tell you again and again and again...
I love you
Now and forever.
"Woman"