Trying to please everybody is impossible - if you did that, you'd end up in the middle with nobody liking you. You've just got to make the decision about what you think is your best, and do it.
Interpretation
You can't make everyone happy, so focus on your own beliefs and choices.
This quote by John Lennon highlights the futility of seeking universal approval. It emphasizes that trying to please everyone leads to a loss of individuality and can leave you feeling isolated. Instead of diluting your values to gain acceptance, it is more fulfilling to make decisions based on your own beliefs and values, which will ultimately attract the right people into your life.
In practice
In a motivational speech about self-acceptance, you could use this quote to inspire individuals to be true to themselves.
When I get older losing my hair many years from now. Will you still be sending me a Valentine. Birthday greetings, bottle of wine? If I'd been out till quarter to three would you lock the door? Will you still need me, will you still feed me, When I'm sixty-four?
The writing of the Beatles, or John and Paul's contribution to the Beatles in the late sixties - had a kind of depth to it, a more mature, more intellectual approach. We were different people, we were older. We knew each other in all kinds of different ways than when we wrote together as teenagers and in our older twenties.
I put things down on sheets of paper and stuff them in my pockets. When I have enough, I have a book.
Guilt for being rich, and guilt thinking that perhaps love and peace isn't enough and you have to go and get shot or something.
I regret profoundly that I was not an American and not born in Greenwich Village. It might be dying, and there might be a lot of dirt in the air you breathe, but this is where it's happening.
I've been baking bread and looking after the baby...Everyone else who has asked me that question over the last few years says. 'But what else have you been doing?' To which I say, 'Are you kidding?' Because bread and babies, as every housewife knows, is a full-time job. After I made the loaves [of bread,] I felt like I had conquered something. But as I watched the bread being eaten, I thought, Well, Jesus, don't I get a gold record or knighted or nothing?
Before you react, think. Before you spend, earn. Before you criticize, wait. Before you quit, try.
I had a long talk with Bruce Springsteen on a rooftop during the Vote for Change tour (in 2004). And it boiled down to this: That guy you used to be, he’s still in the car. He’ll always be in the car. Just don’t let him drive. He might be shouting out directions. But whatever you do, don’t let him get behind the wheel.
A world full of happiness is not beyond human power to create; the obstacles imposed by inanimate nature are not insuperable. The real obstacles lie in the heart of man, and the cure for these is a firm hope, informed and fortified by thought.
Humility forms the basis of honor, just as the low ground forms the foundation of a high elevation.
Wherever I am, let me never forget to distinguish want from need
If you can be kind and considerate for one day, then you can be for another. It won't cost you a penny in the world. Begin today.
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