This is the only collection of authentic John Lennon quotes that linked to various credible sources.
There are many so-called John Lennon quotes found in those popular quotation sites which are actually fake or unverified.
As these websites, they do not cite the sources of their published quotations.
They merely copied from other unreliable and unverified websites, books, newspapers and magazines.
Do you know the popular quotation: “Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time” is NOT by the late John Lennon.
On the Internet, you would find many sites attributed this line to Lennon.
It is also NOT by the the British philosopher Bertrand Russell.
This quote is from an old book titled “Phrynette Married” written by Marthe Troly-Curtin.
Anyway, here you can find a good list of un-sourced John Lennon quotes.
Liverpool-born musician, singer and songwriter John Winston Lennon was the founder member of the world famous band The Beatles, aka The Fab Four.
Back in 1960, this controversial celebrated English pop icon started out with his first band called “The Quarrymen”; which was later renamed as The Beatles.
After the band broke up, the late John Lennon went on his own solo career.
It was during this time, he came out with famous albums songs such as John “Lennon/Plastic Ono Band” and “Imagine“, and popular songs which include “Give Peace a Chance” and “Working Class Hero“.
On December 8th, 1980, three weeks after he released his last album “Double Fantasy“, John Lennon was shot to death by Mark David Chapman at the entrance to the building where he lived, The Dakota, in New York City.
In 1987, John Ono Lennon was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 1994, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Authentic John Lennon Quotes
Now, let’s check out my list of authentic John Lennon quotations taken from the article, “John Lennon: The Rolling Stone Interview, Part One, The Working Class Hero” By Jann S. Wenner, rollingstone.com; January 21, 1971, and The Rolling Stone Interview: John Lennon, Part Two, Life With The Lions” By Jann S. Wenner, published in Rolling Stone Magazine Issue #75; February 4, 1971.
“I always wrote about me when I could. I didn’t really enjoy writing third person songs about people who lived in concrete flats and things like that. I like first person music.” – John Lennon
“…the few true songs I ever wrote were like ‘Help’ and ‘Strawberry Fields.'” – John Lennon
“I always liked simple rock and nothing else.” – John Lennon
“I was influenced by acid and got psychedelic, like the whole generation, but really, I like rock and roll and I express myself best in rock.” – John Lennon
“…God is the concept by which we measure pain…” – John Lennon
“There is nothing conceptually better than rock and roll.” – John Lennon
“…we always missed the club dates because that’s when we were playing music, and then later on we became technically, efficient recording artists.” – John Lennon
“Like I said in the song, I’ve been through it all, and nothing works better than to have somebody you love hold you.” – John Lennon
“Sometimes I felt as though you worked to justify your existence, but you don’t; you work to exist, and vice versa, and that’s it, really.” – John Lennon
“…creating is a result of pain, too. I have to put it somewhere, and I write songs.” – John Lennon
“Pain is what we are in most of the time, and I think that the bigger the pain, the more God you look for.” – John Lennon
“Rock and roll will be whatever we make it.” – John Lennon
“It’s no fun being an artist. You know what it’s like, writing, it’s torture.” – John Lennon
“I read about Van Gogh, Beethoven, any of the f***ers. If they had psychiatrists, we wouldn’t have had Gauguin’s great pictures.” – John Lennon
“I regret profoundly that I was not an American and not born in Greenwich Village. That’s where I should have been.” – John Lennon
“…I had lost the initial freedom of the artist by becoming enslaved to the image of what the artist is supposed to do.” – John Lennon
“I never went to high school reunions. My thing is, Out of sight, out of mind. That’s my attitude toward life. So I don’t have any romanticism about any part of my past.” – John Lennon
“You know I don’t believe in yesterday. I am only interested in what I am doing now.” – John Lennon
“…to change society, there are two ways to go: through violence or the power of money within the system.” – John Lennon
“…We’re more popular than Jesus now – I don’t know which will go first, rock and roll or Christianity.” – John Lennon
“Everybody loves you when you’re six foot in the ground.” – John Lennon
“Living is easy with eyes closed” – John Lennon
“When I cannot sing my heart, I can only speak my mind.” – John Lennon
“Everything is as important as everything else.” – John Lennon
“I wouldn’t say I was a born writer; I’m a born thinker.” – John Lennon
“Part of me suspects I’m a loser and part of me thinks I’m God Almighty.” – John Lennon
“…the so-called pain of the artist was always paid for by the freedom of the artist.” – John Lennon
“…religion was an outlet for my repression.” – John Lennon
“…I don’t want to be king, I want to be real.” – John Lennon
“The Beatles are bigger than Jesus.” – John Lennon
“…you can’t take power without a struggle.” – John Lennon
“I think most schools are prisons – A child’s thing is wide open and to narrow it down and make him compete in the classroom is a joke.” – John Lennon
“The king is always killed by his courtiers. He is overfed, overindulged, overdrunk to keep him tied to his throne. Most people in the position never wake up.” – John Lennon
“…you move forward you must move something back.” – John Lennon
“…there’s a great woman behind every idiot.” – John Lennon
“…our society is run by insane people for insane objectives.” – John Lennon
“…my role in society, or any artist or poet’s role, is to try and express what we all feel.” – John Lennon
“I’ve always considered my work one piece and I consider that my work won’t be finished until I am dead and buried and I hope that’s a long, long time.” – John Lennon
References:
You can read the full two-part Rolling Stone magazine interviews with John Lennon and Yoko Ono here .
This is a great site where you can find old newspaper clippings about The Beatles.
The full articles “The Beatles: Part 1 The Authentic Unexpurgated Biography” by Hunter Davies, LIFE Magazine, September 13, 1968.