John Lennon's most iconic quotes to honour his 80th birth anniversary

John Lennon was born on October 9, 1940, in Liverpool, England. Lennon is widely credited to have reinvented popular music with his work in The Beatles. He was the co-lead singer and rhythm guitarist for The Beatles. To celebrate his 80th birth anniversary, take a look at some of John Lennon's quotes:

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John Lennon's quotes

As the co-lead singer and rhythm guitarist of The Beatles, Lennon influenced several musicians of his time. Apart from his work in music, he was also an avid activist and was a fiercely opinionated man. Here are some of his quotes that made headlines during his time.

• "You don't need anybody to tell you who you are or what you are. You are what you are!" John Lennon had made this statement in a press conference. His motivational quote means that one does not need anybody's approval.
• "I said we were more popular than Jesus, which is a fact." This John Lennon quote about The Beatles brought a lot of eyes to him. The band had become immensely popular and thus John had made such a quote which became controversial.
• "We're trying to sell peace, like a product, you know, and sell it like people sell soap or soft drinks. And it's the only way to get people aware that peace is possible, and it isn't just inevitable to have violence. Not just war—all forms of violence." 

   

   

   

   

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  A post shared by John Lennon (@johnlennon) on Aug 1, 2020 at 12:22am PDT

   

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• "I'm always proud and pleased when people do my songs. It gives me pleasure that they even attempt them because a lot of my songs aren't that doable." John Lennon's songs were played by his fans and that made him extremely happy. 
• "We're not Beatles to each other, you know. It's a joke to us. If we're going out the door of the hotel, we say, 'Right! Beatle John! Beatle George now! Come on, let's go!' We don't put on a false front or anything." He mentioned that they usually fooled around by putting 'Beatle' as a prefix before their names and called each other. 
• "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." 
• "I was a working-class macho guy who was used to being served and Yoko didn't buy that. From the day I met her, she demanded equal time, equal space, equal rights." He spoke about his wife Yoko who always wanted him to give her time and space equally to last the relationship. 

   

   

   

   

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  HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN! A compilation of #LENNON80 celebrations is up at johnlennon.com and being updated throughout the day.

  A post shared by John Lennon (@johnlennon) on Oct 9, 2020 at 10:30am PDT

   

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• "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." 
• "I don't purchase records. I do enjoy listening to things like Japanese folk music or Indian music." John Lennon's music choices were different than others. He mentioned that he liked listening to Japanese folk music and Indian music as well. 
• "I could still be forgotten when I'm dead. I don't really care what happens when I'm dead." He had shared in an interview that he would be forgotten when he was dead. 

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