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Creativity Quote by George Harrison

"You've got as many lives as you like, and more, even ones you don't want"

About this Quote

Harrison’s line lands with the calm sting of someone who’s seen both the psychedelic promise of “new lives” and the exhausting reality of having to keep living the one you’re in. On the surface it borrows the language of reincarnation and spiritual abundance, ideas Harrison genuinely explored through Indian philosophy. But the twist is in the second clause: “and more, even ones you don’t want.” That’s where the romantic glow drops away and you get something closer to a working musician’s hard-earned fatalism.

The intent isn’t to preach karma as comfort; it’s to puncture the idea that more chances automatically mean freedom. “As many lives as you like” sounds like choice, a consumer fantasy of selves you can try on. Then Harrison reminds you that life keeps issuing sequels regardless of your consent: unwanted roles, unwanted eras, unwanted versions of yourself. It’s a sly rebuttal to the myth of control, especially potent coming from a Beatle, someone the culture treated like an endlessly renewable brand.

Subtext: survival is not glamorous. The “more” doesn’t read as a bonus; it reads as overflow. In the post-Beatles context - fame’s hangover, the pressure to reinvent, the tug between spiritual seeking and celebrity machinery - the quote doubles as an artist’s diagnosis of modern identity. You don’t just get to be reborn; you get re-marketed, reinterpreted, and re-entered into cycles you never auditioned for.

It works because it holds two truths in one breath: possibility is real, and so is burden. Harrison makes eternity sound less like a gift than a schedule.

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TopicLife
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George Harrison quote: many lives, desire and karma
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About the Author

George Harrison

George Harrison (February 25, 1943 - November 29, 2001) was a Musician from United Kingdom.

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