Yoko Ono Quotes
Artist
You change the world by being yourself.
A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.
I have only one life, so I want to make sure it's a good one.
Marriage is a gamble, let's be honest.
Every drop in the ocean counts.
The sky is always there for me, while my life has been going through many, many changes. When I look up the sky, it gives me a nice feeling, like looking at an old friend.
Nobody's life is a bed of roses. We all have crosses to bear, and we all just do our best. I would never claim to have the worst situation. There are many widows, and many people dying of AIDS, many people killed in Lebanon, people starving all over the planet. So we have to count our lucky stars.
Smile in the mirror. Do that every morning and you'll start to see a big difference in your life.
Being alone is very difficult.
There's a long life ahead of you and it's going to be beautiful, as long as you keep loving and hugging each other.
The human race is a very, very magical race. We have a magic power of witches and wizards. We're here on this earth to unravel the mystery of this planet. The planet is asking for it.
Sometimes I am happy and sometimes not. I am, after all, a human being, you know. And I am glad that we are sometimes happy and sometimes not. You get your wisdom working by having different emotions.
Distance doesn't exist, in fact, and neither does time. Vibrations from love or music can be felt everywhere, at all times.
I just want to be healthy and stay alive and keep my family going and everything and keep my friends going and try to do something so that this world will be peaceful. That is the most ambitious and the most difficult thing, but I'm there trying to do it.
I realized that if my thoughts immediately affect my body, I should be careful about what I think. Now if I get angry, I ask myself why I feel that way. If I can find the source of my anger, I can turn that negative energy into something positive.
Remember, each one of us has the power to change the world. Just start thinking peace, and the message will spread quicker than you think.
Art is my life and my life is art.
People think that their world will get smaller as they get older. My experience is just the opposite. Your senses become more acute. You start to blossom.
Experiencing sadness and anger can make you feel more creative, and by being creative, you can get beyond your pain or negativity.
Controversy is part of the nature of art and creativity.
The nice thing about the gallery shows is that without having to pay any money you can just go and see it.
The computer is my favourite invention. I feel lucky to be part of the global village. I don't mean to brag, but I'm so fast with technology. People think it all seems too much, but we'll get used to it. I'm sure it all seemed too much when we were learning to walk.
I don't think you should always stay calm in a tense situation, because you might not ever confront the problem. Maybe it's better to actually let yourself be tense - and find a solution.
I don't think about the future. I don't think about the past. I just think of what comes into my head at the time. So that might be about the past, that might be about the future. Or, the present.
We're growing up together, the human race. And we've discovered a lot of things that we didn't know. We're finding our way. Instead of thinking about doomsday all the time, think about how beautiful the world is. We're all together, and together we're getting wiser.
Energy is so important. If you don't have it, don't bother with rock and roll.
Every moment in our lives is a miracle we should enjoy instead of ignoring.
You can be very wild and still be very wise.
If your life changes, we can change the world, too.
Healing yourself is connected with healing others.
I saw that nothing was permanent. You don't want to possess anything that is dear to you because you might lose it.
This society is driven by neurotic speed and force accelerated by greed and frustration of not being able to live up to the image of men and woman we have created for ourselves; the image has nothing to do with the reality of people.
Nothing is written in stone. So don't prepare yourself for a long and lucrative career. You might die tomorrow. Your gold holdings might become dust. Just make the music you want to make now and enjoy it.
When you go to war, both sides lose totally.
People don't remember each tree in a park but all of us benefit from the trees. And in a way, artists are like trees in a park.
My husband John Lennon was a very special man. A man of humble origin, he brought light and hope to the whole world with his words and music.
When you go through a negative situation, don't think about it. Make it positive.
When people ask me what the most important thing is in life, I answer: 'Just breathe.'
Life with another person is always difficult.
I thought art was a verb, rather than a noun.
I just go with the flow, so any style can be in my music - that makes it exciting.
The regret of my life is that I have not said 'I love you' often enough.
Is truth always positive? Of course. Once the truth comes out, you know, it's all right. We're scared that if the truth comes out that it's not all right. It's the other way around.
To me, the concept of distance is not important. Distance doesn't exist, in fact, and neither does time. Vibrations from love or music can be felt everywhere, at all times.
Words are power. And a book is full of words. Be careful what power you get from it. But know that you do.
But only art and music have the power to bring peace.
When you are totally depressed, you should try giggling. Just make yourself laugh. Force yourself to laugh.
Events are the best teacher for us. You try to learn from people, there is always some bend to it.
Everybody's an artist. Everybody's God. It's just that they're inhibited.
I'm kind of honored to be a dragon lady. The dragon is a very powerful, mythical animal.
Our public officials have forgotten that they are ultimately accountable to the people who put them in office, that the information they keep in secrecy belongs to all of us.
The 1960s were about releasing ourselves from conventional society and freeing ourselves.
I think energy is the most important thing that we can give to people as performers. Anything else is a little bit pretentious. But energy is not.
Marriage is a difficult project. When seven years have passed and all your body's cells have been replaced, you're meant to experience that seven-year itch.
I never want projects to be finished; I have always believed in unfinished work. I got that from Schubert, you know, the 'Unfinished Symphony.'
My heart is mysteriously alive in the world of sounds - a totally different dimension from the daily life.
Performance art is going to be the future. Plays on Broadway are so restricted. But performance art is like haikus, just one line thing. And it's more casual but more interesting.
We are all dreamers creating the next world, the next beautiful world for ourselves and for our children.
No one person could have broken up a band, especially one the size of the Beatles.
I did not break up the Beatles. You can't have it both ways. If you're going to blame me for breaking the Beatles up, you should be thankful that I made them into myth rather than a crumbling group.
When you are suffering, you become more understanding about yourself, but also about other people's sufferings too. That's the first step to understand somebody is to understand their sufferings. So then love follows.
Chemically speaking or biologically, we research things, but we don't know half of them. We only know our half of it - symbolically - and we don't know ourselves more than half.
You can't always measure the effects of activist work; you just have to wish and pray that the message gets through.
DJs are in incredible competition, musically. And they are the most musically creative and sensitive people in all the music charts. I am amazed how they are.
Most of the fans of John Lennon and maybe John and Yoko are younger than me.
We artists have the dignity to tell the truth to the people, unlike politicians.
Even my mother told me: 'You are a handsome woman, but you're not pretty. Pretty girls don't have those big bones.'
If you have too many quotes from other people in your head, you can't create. You have to keep your head empty. That's why I am constantly enjoying the sky, the park, the walk.
If a woman writes about a domestic situation, everyone automatically assumes that it's about her.
People just love to be entertained, and in order to entertain them, you have to do things in a way that they understand.
There's many women now who think, 'Surely we don't need feminism anymore, we're all liberated and society's accepting us as we are'. Which is just hogwash. It's not true at all.
It is very difficult for us to know we love somebody because it is an insecure position to be in. But in the end, it is important to be honest about your love because life is not that long.
Why do they cover Paul's songs but never mine?
One day, the dance charts will be the biggest chart in the music world. Because we all need to dance. This planet will be a fun planet when the judges in court will end the day with a dance!
When I turned 60, it didn't bother me at all.
Losing my daughter was a very serious pain. There was always some empty space in my heart.
My beauty secret is... nothing! I don't drink too much water. I don't eat very well. Sometimes I cheat and grab some chocolate. The best thing is to eat what you want, but not very much.
I'm not interested so much in collaboration. You see that from the history of my albums.
I relate to happiness as an ecstatic moment - something you don't create, you encounter.
People make music to get a reaction. Music is communication.
The thing that would most improve my life is 27 hours in a day. I could meet all my deadlines.
I always believed that my work should be unfinished in the sense that I encourage people to add their creativity to it, either conceptually or physically. Back in the 1960s, I was calling for 'Unfinished Music,' number one, and number two, with my artwork - I was taking unfinished work into the gallery. And that's how I was looking at it.
I was being hated for about 40 or 50 years by the whole world, but it did not destroy me, and it did not ruin my health. And the reason is because I just did not answer them. I had my own life.
Some people think that movements, such as the movements in ballet, are a higher cultural expression, whereas some are just dirt. I think it is elitist to think that a trained movement is more acceptable than untrained and possibly unrehearsed movements.
People accuse artists of being narcissists - of course we are! If we don't like ourselves, who's going to like us?
True artists are prophets. I don't want to be that prophetic in that sense because it's so lonely.
Society tells you that when you're old you have to retire. You have to defy that.
I don't believe in a chronological way of doing things.
John wrote with a very deep love for the human race and a concern for its future.
It's a waste of time to think that if you colored a painting red what might have happened if you painted it black.
We live too long for one marriage.
After my husband John Lennon passed away, I tried to smile for my health.
I'm a very obsessive type. If I do get into it, I'll soon be there 12 hours a day. I just don't want to do that.
I think that there is a sort of spiritual power that is translating into our bodies as we perform. Performers give, and giving is so important. It can heal. That is my experience, anyway.
The whole world is starting to realize that it was the most unwise thing for our society to have ignored women power, to run the society with male priorities.
Countries have lost their culture because what they wanted was money. Money became the running theme in every country and culture was sacrificed.
I think there is a big difference between the music business and music. And my relationship is to music, not music business. I think the business will keep changing, but music won't. Music will be there.
What we do really affects the world. Most of us think we can't do anything, but it really isn't true.
Art is like breathing for me. If I don't do it, I start to choke.
The art world was not initially really accepting my kind of work. I was ahead of my time.