Yoko Ono

Yoko Ono (オノ・ヨーコ Ono Yōko, kanji: 小野洋子) (born 18 February 1933) is a Japanese-American avant-garde artist and musician, famous for her marriage and collaborations with John Lennon as well as for her solo work.

Quotes



 * Y E S
 * Statement made in "Ceiling Painting" an avant-garde artwork presented at the Indica Gallery, in which people had to climb a white ladder and use a magnifying glass to see what was printed on a tiny message on the ceiling : "Y E S". (November 1966). It was during this exhibition that John Lennon first became familiar with her and her work, and he later referenced the work in his song "Mind Games" (1973).


 * A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.
 * A line written by Ono many years before, and quoted by Lennon in December 1980, as quoted in All We Are Saying : The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono (2000) by John Lennon, Yōko Ono, David Sheff, p. 16.


 * I usually stay away from being carried away, But one day I saw a silver horse. I thought he might take me to that somewhere high, I thought he might take me to that deep blue sky.  I came to realize that the horse had no wings. No wings, well, it wasn't so bad, you know.  I learnt to travel the world around And run on the ground in the morning. And that's the story of a wandering soul, A story of a dreamer.
 * "Silver Horse" on Season of Glass (1981).


 * Walking on thin ice, I'm paying the price. I'm throwing the dice in the air. Why must we learn it the hard way And play the game of life with your heart?
 * "Walking On Thin Ice" on Season of Glass (1981) - YouTube video


 * I gave you my life, you gave me my life. Like a gush of wind in my hair. Why do we forget what's been said And play the game of life with our hearts?
 * "Walking On Thin Ice" on Season of Glass (1981).


 * Never say goodbye, You say tomorrow's another day, All I know is we're here today.  I've got nightmares I could never share with you, The kind that keeps me up all night. So hold me tight till the room is light And tell me that it's all right.
 * "Never Say Goodbye" on It's Alright (I See Rainbows) (1982).


 * There is a saying that a glass is half empty or half full, depending on how you look at it. Well, we all know that one. But we cannot just say, okay so half full is how we should look at things. No. We have to go even further in our observation and realize that the glass is actually 100 percent full: 50 percent with water and 50 percent with air.
 * Game Is Not Over - 2005 Oxford Union Address


 * I dedicate this light tower to John Lennon my love for you is forever yoko ono October 9th 2007
 * Dedication on the Imagine Peace Tower base (2007).


 * I’m not that concerned about professional politicians. I always believe that we can change the world by grass-roots movements. It is a very important thing to do. It is the first time that I realized that I respect America so much because there are so many Americans trying to shift the axis of the world to peace.
 * quoted in "Imagine Peace—A Ray of Light in Dark Times" by Amy Goodman (2007)


 * If Lennon were alive today, he probably would have reconciled with the man he accused of having "made a fool of everyone." John would have been the first one now, if he had been there, to recognise and acknowledge what Maharishi has done for the world and appreciate it.
 * Quoted from: Yoko Ono - Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Guru to Beatles and Beach Boys died in The Netherlands, RollingStone magazine, 6 Mars 2008. 1047, 16, n°1047


 * John and I felt that we were like people in an H. G. Wells story. Two people who are walking so fast that nobody else can see them.
 * 25 Things Even My Best Friends Didn’t Know Until Now (1 October 2009)


 * In a day, sometimes I feel so much love for the world, I think my heart is bursting. Sometimes, I feel so scared, I want to shrink myself even further. I think that’s what happened to us gods and goddesses. Like the dinosaurs, we realized that it’s too dangerous to be so large. So we kept shrinking ourselves to what we are now. We might get even smaller. I see the sign in the engineers making smaller gadgets, smaller and smaller. Pretty soon, our fingers will be too large to operate them. So what are we doing? I trust in the human wisdom. We are incredibly intelligent beings. So we might know something without thinking that we know…. Well, even my best friend didn’t know until now that I was thinking of crazy things like this.
 * 25 Things Even My Best Friends Didn’t Know Until Now (1 October 2009).


 *  I thank Pussy Riot for standing firmly in their belief for Freedom of Expression, and making all women of the world proud to be women.
 * As quoted in "Scores of musicians urge Russia to release Pussy Riot" at Amnesty International (22 July 2013)

Twitter messages

 * Messages sent out on her Twitter account




 * Don't ever give up on life. Life can be so beautiful, especially after you've spent a lot of time with it.
 * 9 June 2009.


 * Remember, our hearts are one. Even when we are at war with each other, our hearts are always beating in unison.
 * 29 August 2009.


 * If your judgement is clouded, you must be carrying too many things which are being a burden to you.
 * 9 October 2009.


 * Remember, each one of us has the power to change the world. Power works in mysterious ways. You don’t have to do much. Visualise the domino effect And just start thinking PEACE. The message will circulate faster than you think. It’s Time For Action. The Action is PEACE. Spread the word. Spread PEACE. I love you!
 * 9 October 2009.


 * The opposite of love is fear, not hate.
 * 2 July 2010.

Quotes about Ono



 * That's part of our policy, is not to be taken seriously, because I think our opposition, whoever they may be, in all their manifest forms, don't know how to handle humor. You know, and we are humorous, we are, what are they, 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.
 * John Lennon, as quoted in a BBC interview with David Wigg (8 May 1969).


 * My biography now reads, "Born, lived and met Yoko."
 * John Lennon, responding to persistent questions about The Beatles and their breakup; as quoted by the in "Yoko and Lennon Land in Syracuse," New York Daily News (6 October 1971).


 * Woman, please let me explain I never meant to cause you sorrow or pain So let me tell you again and again and again... I love you Now and forever.
 * John Lennon, on Double Fantasy (1980).


 * I learned everything from her. … It is a teacher-pupil relationship. That's what people don't understand. She's the teacher and I'm the pupil. I'm the famous one, the one who's supposed to know everything, but she's my teacher. She's taught me everything I fucking know.
 * John Lennon, in an interview with David Sheff (September 1980), published in Playboy (January 1981)


 * every time Yoko Ono pays to have that full page in The New York Times — the “War is Over” page — I’m fascinated by that. I think, well, I’d love to hear her talk about why she continues to do this, because we so much wish it were true. We’d like to be able to say, “Yes, it’s true.” I actually kept that postcard that said “War is Over” in that same font on my wall for years, because I so much wanted to believe it. And yet, you look at the world, and it’s not true, and you think, is this just — is this manifest positive thinking?
 * Naomi Shihab Nye Interview with On Being (2016)