We all shine on...like the moon and the stars and the sun...we all shine on...come on and on and on...

The line is from John Lennon’s song “Instant Karma! (We All Shine On),” released as a single in early 1970, shortly after the Beatles’ breakup became public. Written and recorded quickly in London, it reflects Lennon’s turn toward direct, slogan-like songwriting and his interest in spiritual and ethical ideas circulating in the late 1960s, including karma and personal responsibility. The refrain “We all shine on” functions as a communal affirmation amid a lyric that also warns against self-deception and postponing moral reckoning. The phrase became one of Lennon’s most quoted post-Beatles lines and is closely associated with his early solo identity.

“We all shine on…like the moon and the stars and the sun” frames human worth as universal and inherent: everyone has a capacity to radiate value, insight, or goodness, just as celestial bodies give light. The repeated “come on and on and on” adds a chant-like insistence, suggesting endurance and continuity—an invitation to keep going, to keep “shining,” and to recognize that this shared luminosity persists beyond individual setbacks. In the larger song, the affirmation sits beside a warning about consequences (“instant karma”), so the shine is not mere optimism; it implies that ethical clarity and self-awareness are available to all, and that one’s actions quickly reflect back.

“We all shine on / like the moon and the stars and the sun / we all shine on / come on and on and on.”