John Lennon (1940-1980)

  • There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance.
  • Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted.
  • We live in a world where we have to hide to make love, while violence is practiced in broad daylight.
  • Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.
  • 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.
  • Peace is not something you wish for; it’s something you make, something you do, something you are, and something you give away.
  • When you do something beautiful and nobody noticed, do not be sad. For the sun, every morning is a beautiful spectacle and yet most of the audience still sleeps.
  • It matters not who you love, where you love, why you love, when you love or how you love, it matters only that your love.
  • Declare it. Just the same way we declare war. That is how we will have peace… we just need to declare it.
  • Being honest may not get you a lot of friends but it’ll always get you the right ones.
  • A mistake is only an error. It becomes a mistake when you fail to correct it.
  • For those of you in the cheap seats, I’d like ya to clap your hands to this one. The rest of you can just rattle your jewelry!
  • My role in society, or any artist’s or poet’s role, is to try to 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.
  • Only by trying on other people’s clothes do we find what size we are.
  • Produce your own dream. It’s quite possible to do anything, but not if you put it on the leaders and the parking meters.
  • When I cannot sing my heart, I can only speak my mind.
  • I can’t wake you up. You can wake you up. I can’t cure you. You can cure you.
  • You’re just left with yourself all the time, whatever you do anyway. You’ve got to get down to your own God in your own temple. It’s all down to you, mate.