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Yoko Ono

Japanese artist and activist based in the United States

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.

Y E S

Quotes

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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.
 
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.
 
I trust in the human wisdom. We are incredibly intelligent beings. So we might know something without thinking that we know.
 
I dedicate this light tower to John Lennon
my love for you is forever
  • 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.

  • 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?
  • 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.

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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 [1]
  • 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).

Twitter messages

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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.
  • 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

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We are … Laurel and Hardy. That's John and Yoko, and we stand a better chance under that guise… ~ John Lennon
 
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
  • 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).
  • 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.
  • 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?
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