Yoko Ono

I see so many activists... who are artists because they feel that they have the power of communication.

Experiencing sadness and anger can make you feel more creative, and by being creative you can get beyond your pain or negativity.

Transform jealousy to admiration, and what you admire will become part of your life.

I'm free from holding personal anger because I can express what I want through my music.

I never want projects to be finished; I have always believed in unfinished work. I got that from Schubert, you know, the 'Unfinished Symphony.'

You are beautiful. Don't ever think you are not. It may be such a compliment that does not come from a man too often. They are shy, proud, and rude. Give yourself some love. And walk as what you are “ a beautiful woman. All your life.

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.

Countries have lost their culture because what they wanted was money. Money became the running theme in every country and culture was sacrificed.

Smile in the mirror. Do that every morning and you'll start to see a big difference in your life.

In the Second World War, I was a little girl. I was evacuated in my country.

War is over if you want 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.

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.

What we do really affects the world. Most of us think we can't do anything, but it really isn't true.

We don't live by just sleeping and eating. We need pride and dignity in our lives. Work gives you that.

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.

Life with another person is always difficult.

I'm kind of honored to be a dragon lady. The dragon is a very powerful, mythical animal.

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.

Tell them you still love them, and they will get the message.

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.

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.

Art is my life and my life is art.

I am extremely rebellious. I have this strong, defiant spirit.

We are all dreamers creating the next world, the next beautiful world for ourselves and for our children.

The regret of my life is that I have not said 'I love you' often enough.

I'm not interested so much in collaboration. You see that from the history of my albums.

Bad stories are written about me because the press knows they can make me into a weeping dog and few people will object.

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.

After my husband John Lennon passed away, I tried to smile for my health.

Japanese are very proud and workaholics. Proud workaholics.

The process is always the same. I get an inspiration for a new song, I put it down on paper immediately so I won't lose it. When I am ready to go to the studio with it, I play it a few times on the piano and edit, add, and type the lyrics and take it to the studio. Sometimes I don't have anything on paper.

When you go to war, both sides lose totally.

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.

Being alone is very difficult.

The thing that would most improve my life is 27 hours in a day. I could meet all my deadlines.

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 respect Lady Gaga very much.

Sound as medium has an incredible elasticity. So, of course, it is tempting for artists of other fields to try something with sounds. Why not? We are living in the age when there is no limit in gathering all forms of art and music to mix it together if you so desire.

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.

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.

At least I had that, one guy understood me.

When people ask me what the most important thing is in life, I answer: 'Just breathe.'

Distance doesnt exist in fact and neither does time. Vibrations from love or music can be felt everywhere at all times.

You can be very wild and still be very wise.

Imagine a dolphin dancing in the sky. Let it dance with joy. Think of yourself at the bottom of the ocean watching.

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.

I think that there is incredible prejudice about witches while there is no prejudice about wizards. Words are very important, and I'm really into destroying myths.

The art world was not initially really accepting my kind of work. I was ahead of my time.

Power is power. It's energy. And if you get big, big energy, you can use that in a good way.

No one person could have broken up a band, especially one the size of the Beatles.

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.

We know that our cells are speaking to each other.

I just go with the flow, so any style can be in my music - that makes it exciting.

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.

You can't always be in awe of someone's talent, living with them.

There is an incredible love in creating art unless somebody is saying, 'Hey, let's just make money,' because it doesn't work when you do it that way. If you are aiming for that, forget it.

My first husband met me as a career woman, and the second did, too. I was lucky.

In the '60s, people were still very protective of each field that they belonged to. Avant-garde artists didn't know about rock or pop or jazz. And the jazz people of course didn't want to know about any other music. They were all just kind of protecting their territory.

I saw that nothing was permanent. You don't want to possess anything that is dear to you because you might lose it.

The boats outside the window were always still I wondered if one of them would take me to the ocean.

Everybody's an artist. Everybody's God. It's just that they're inhibited.

When you go through a negative situation, don't think about it. Make it positive.

When you are totally depressed, you should try giggling. Just make yourself laugh. Force yourself to laugh.

I admire all people who are trying to be a good power in this chaotic world.

A lot of things have been thrown at me in life, and I've got through it all without a rule book, taking it one day at a time.

My life was pretty rough.

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.

Be thankful for your life, and forgive everybody, including yourself.

I am aware of the sufferings of women in India, which is also the suffering of women in many, many countries on our planet. My heart is filled with empathy and love for them.

What the Beatles did was something incredible, it was more than what a band could do. We have to give them respect.

heres nothing bad about feminism. We have to help each other because theres a lot of women in the world who are suffering because the fact is were not equal. Its as plain as that. Its still a mens world. I dont know. Well go on with it.

People are still thinking of solving problems by violence and war, and that has to stop.

Great Art is Great because it inspired you greatly. If it didn't, no matter what the critics, the museums and the galleries say, it's not great art for you.

All I can say is, it's not very easy for a woman to be associated with The Beatles.

I relate to happiness as an ecstatic moment - something you don't create, you encounter.

Keep being yourself inside you. Keep visualizing what you are aiming for in life. Be patient and know that you will get what you want one day.

Having a son is not all pleasure.

People just love to be entertained, and in order to entertain them, you have to do things in a way that they understand.

You know, something happened to me when I became 70. I started to feel a tremendous love for the human race, and life and this planet, the universe, the whole shebang.

John wrote with a very deep love for the human race and a concern for its future.

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.

We artists have the dignity to tell the truth to the people, unlike politicians.

I must say that I always thought I had a voice, even when I was 4 years old.

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.

You can be lonely when you have a guy living with you.

True artists are prophets. I don't want to be that prophetic in that sense because it's so lonely.

I have only one life, so I want to make sure it's a good one.

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 get very nervous before I get on the stage, but once I'm on the stage, I'm just, you know, me. Nothing hurts me.

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.

Fracking kills, and it doesn't just kill us. It kills the land, nature and, eventually, the whole world.

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.

Marriage is a gamble, let's be honest.

All my concerts had no sounds in them they were completely silent. People had to make up their own music in their minds

The 1960s were about releasing ourselves from conventional society and freeing ourselves.

Distance doesn't exist, in fact, and neither does time. Vibrations from love or music can be felt everywhere, at all times.

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.

In the '60s we fought for peace, when the Vietnam war was on. We were against the cops and against the politicians, and there was a lot of waving banners and all that. And I think in a way, just as they were enjoying that machoism of war, we were enjoying the machismo of being anti-war, you know?

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.