Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out.

Timothy Leary popularized the slogan during the mid-1960s as a concise manifesto for the psychedelic counterculture. It is most closely associated with his public address at the “Human Be-In” in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park on January 14, 1967, a major gathering that helped set the tone for the coming “Summer of Love.” Leary, a former Harvard psychologist and prominent advocate of LSD, used the phrase to urge young people toward inner exploration and a break with conventional social institutions. The line quickly circulated through underground press, music, and youth movements, becoming one of the era’s best-known catchphrases.

The three imperatives outline a program of personal and cultural transformation. “Turn on” suggests activating heightened awareness—often read as opening the mind through psychedelics, but also through any consciousness-expanding practice. “Tune in” implies aligning oneself with new values, communities, and perceptions rather than inherited norms. “Drop out” calls for withdrawal from mainstream systems—careerism, consumer culture, and institutional authority—in favor of alternative ways of living. The slogan’s power lies in its rhythmic simplicity, but it is also ambiguous: it can be read as spiritual self-cultivation, political refusal, or escapism, which helps explain both its influence and its controversy.

1) “Turn on, tune in, drop out.”
2) “Turn on, tune in, and drop out.”
3) “Turn on, tune in, drop out—then fall in.”