Laurel and Hardy. That's John and Yoko, and we stand a better chance under that guise, because all the serious people, like Martin Luther King, and Kennedy, and Gandhi, got shot.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the safety found in humor and the risks faced by serious advocates for change.
In this quote, John Lennon draws an intriguing parallel between comedic duos like Laurel and Hardy and the serious figures of history who advocated for peace and justice, implying that perhaps adopting a lighter persona offers a semblance of protection in a world that often punishes those who challenge the status quo. The mention of iconic individuals such as Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy, and Gandhi, all of whom were assassinated, highlights the peril that accompanies intense activism, suggesting that humor might be a safer path for bringing about change.
In practice
In a speech about peace, one might use this quote to emphasize the balance between seriousness and humor in activism.
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?
The need for certainty is the greatest disease the Mind faces
Remember your contemporaries who have passed away and were your age. Remember the honors and fame they earned, the high posts they held, and the beautiful bodies they possessed. Today all of them are turned to dust. They have left orphans and widows behind them, their wealth is being wasted, and their houses turned into ruins. _x000D_ _x000D_ No sign of them is left today, and they lie in dark holes underneath the earth. _x000D_ _x000D_ Picture their faces before your mind's eye and ponder.
My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought! _x000D_ My sin, not in part but the whole, _x000D_ Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, _x000D_ Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
Our jovial star reigned at his birth.
Soldiers have many faults, but they have one redeeming merit; they are never worshippers of force. Soldiers more than any other men are taught severely and systematically that might is not right. The fact is obvious. The might is in the hundred men who obey. The right (or what is held to be right) is in the one man who commands them.
The separation of state and church must be complemented by the separation of state and science, that most recent, most aggressive, and most dogmatic religious institution.
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