24 Beatles Quotes Which Show Why Their Music Nearly Sparked A Revolution

 

By Luke Miller / Truth Theory

English rock band The Beatles, were formed in the British town of Liverpool, in the 1960s. The 4 members were John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, and over their relatively short career (of 10 years) they quickly became regarded as the most influential band in history.

The Beatles have topped the charts as the best-selling band in history, with worldwide sales estimated at over 800 million records. They are also the best-selling musical artists in the US, with 178 million records sold.

But The Beatles were far more than just a band, their music and actions were instrumental (pun intended) in sparking a psychedelic revolution, bringing meditation (on a large scale) to the west and largely influencing political events. John Lennon was the most famous of the 4 for his political views, and in 1980 was assassinated. There are multiple theories stating that this could well have been related with the CIA and FBI due to Lennon’s left-wing activism, however, this has not been proven.

Their music started off with sweet love songs such as “I wanna hold your hand” and “love me do”, but their later music had a far more political and unifying undertone with songs like “revolution”, “all you need is love” and “Imagine” from John Lennon’s solo career.

 

Here are 23 of the greatest quotes that came from The Beatles member’s songs and interviews.  

 

1. “When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life. “

 

2. “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.”

 

3. “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. We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create. Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life. “

 

4. “I believe in everything until it’s disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it’s in your mind. Who’s to say that dreams and nightmares aren’t as real as the here and now? “

 

5. “It matters not who you love, where you love, why you love, when you love or how you love, it matters only that you love.”

 

6. ” Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life.”

 

7. “We live in a world where we have to hide to make love, while violence is practised in broad daylight.”

 

8. “All we are saying is give peace a chance.”

 

9.  “Imagine there’s no countries. It isn’t hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for. And no religion too.”

 

10. “The thing the sixties did was to show us the possibilities and the responsibility that we all had. It wasn’t the answer. It just gave us a glimpse of the possibility.”

 

11. “I believe Jesus was right, Buddha was right, and all of those people like that are right. They’re all saying the same thing — and I believe it. I believe what Jesus actually said — the basic things he laid down about love and goodness — and not what people say he said.”

 

12. “I don’t care too much for money,

         money can’t buy me, love.”

 

13. “Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn’t argue about that; I’m right and I’ll be proved right. We’re more popular than Jesus now; I don’t know which will go first—rock ‘n’ roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It’s them twisting it that ruins it for me”

 

14. “There’s nowhere you can be that isn’t where you’re meant to be…”

 

15. “One thing I can tell you is you have to be free. Come together, right now, over me.”

 

16. “And when the broken hearted people Living in the world agree There will be an answer, let it be.”

 

17. “All you need is love.”

 

18. “Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us, and the world will be as one.”

 

19. “And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make”

 

20. “Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we’re being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I’m liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That’s what’s insane about it.”

 

21. “Life is very short, and there’s no time for fussing and fighting, my friend.”

 

22. “Remember to let her into your heart.”

 

23. “Maybe I’m amazed at the way you love me all the time.

        Maybe I’m afraid of the way I love you.

        Maybe I’m amazed at the way you pulled me out of time   

        And hung me on a line.

        Maybe I’m amazed at the way I really need you.”

 

24.  “I’m not going to change the way I look or the way I feel to conform to anything. I’ve always been a freak. So I’ve been a freak all my life and I have to live with that, you know. I’m one of those people.”

Image 1 Credit: 123RF
Image 2 Credit: © Copyright Philip Halling and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.