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Yoko Ono

Yoko Ono Quotes

Artist

Yoko Ono, born on February 18, 1933, is a Japanese-born American artist, musician, and peace activist. She is known for her unique artistic style and contributions to music, visual art, and performance art.

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Famous Yoko Ono Quotes

“If your judgement is clouded, you must be carrying too many things which are being a burden to you.”

Ifs Burden Judgement Stop Worrying Clouded Thinking Too Much

Author:Yoko Ono

“Everybody's an artist. Everybody's God. It's just that they're inhibited. I believe in people so much that if the whole of civilization is burned so we don't have any memory of it, even then people will start to build their own art. It is a necessity -- a function. We don't need history.”

People Ifs Needs Believe Art Whole Artist I Believe Memories Civilization Function I Believe In Burned

Author:Yoko Ono

“you don't need talent to be an artist. 'Artist' is just a frame of mind. Anybody can be an artist, anybody can communicate if they are desperate enough.”

Ifs Needs Mind Enough Artist Talent Communicate Desperate Frame Of Mind

Author:Yoko Ono

“I wonder why men can get serious at all. They have this delicate long thing hanging outside their bodies, which goes up and down by its own will. First of all, having it outside your body is terribly dangerous. If I were a man I would have a fantastic castration complex to the point that I wouldn't be able to do a thing. Second, the inconsistency of it, like carrying a chance time alarm or something. If I were a man I would always be laughing at myself.”

Source: Grapefruit: A Book of Instructions and Drawings by Yoko Ono

“Some people say, "Sometimes I have violent thoughts, what can I do?" So I say, "Well, have them!" Cos we should not try to control ourselves. It's very bad to control ourselves in this sense. If you have any emotion at all, if its a bad emotion or good emotion, think about it, you should just understand that you have those emotions. And it's good because we are people and we have all these emotions. And the result of that is you would become more and more peaceful. If you don't let those emotions be inside of you then you become extremely violent.”

People Ifs Thinking Should Trying Wells Sometimes Results Emotion Violent Peaceful Control Ourselves

Author:Yoko Ono

“I really feel that artists or musicians are controversial people. Controversy is part of the nature of art and creativity. If people are not doing that, they're not artists - they're artisans.”

People Ifs Feels Art Artist Creativity Musician Controversy Controversial Art And Creativity Artisans

Author:Yoko Ono

“Life keeps getting better. If anything, you start to carry a certain pride in having survived all those years.”

Ifs Years Certain Pride Get Better Survived

Author:Yoko Ono

“If you're criticized then you can use it as an experience. Compliments, you can't use.”

Ifs Use Compliment Compliments You

Author:Yoko Ono

“I am the type of person who would do something thoroughly if someone said, "I don't think you can do it." I am extremely rebellious. I have this strong, defiant spirit.”

Ifs Thinking Persons Said Spirit Strong Can Do Type You Can Do It Rebellious

Author:Yoko Ono

“If I hear dance music, my body starts to move. Whatever the dance music is, I can't help it. With all that, I still felt, well, rock is a little higher art, but it wasn't. Right now, because I have so much experience with dance charts, I started to realize that it's incredible art. This is going to be known one day as high art.”

Ifs Wells Littles Art Stills I Can Helping Body Moving Felt Realizing Known Rocks Higher Right Now One Day Music Is Incredibles Dance Music High Art

Author:Yoko Ono

“Everyone is an artist and a genius, I think. If we don't choose to limit ourselves then we are totally accomplished.”

Ifs Thinking Artist Genius Limits Accomplished

Author:Yoko Ono

“I think I'm an observer in a way. And my life was not so - well, my life was bad too - but it's just that I had the sense to cope with it. But it's probably not that easy to cope if you're in a society where you get killed when your husband dies.”

Ifs Thinking Way Wells Dies Easy Husband Observers Your Husband

Author:Yoko Ono

“If I was a Jewish girl in Hitler's day, I would become his girlfriend. After ten days in bed, he would come to my way of thinking.”

Ifs Thinking Way Girl Bed Ten My Way Girlfriend Way Of Thinking

Author:Yoko Ono

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

Ifs Stills Ocean Window Boat Take Me

Author:Yoko Ono

“The thing is, even after the revolution, if people don't have any trust in themselves, they'll get new problems.”

People Ifs Problem Revolution

Author:Yoko Ono

“If you have a slave around the house how can you expect to make a revolution outside it? The problem for women is that if we try to be free, then we naturally become lonely, because so many women are willing to become slaves, and men usually prefer that.”

Ifs Men Trying Problem House Willing Revolution Lonely Slave

Author:Yoko Ono

“Beatles was 20th-century folksong in the framework of capitalism; they couldn't do anything different if they wanted to communicate within that framework.”

Ifs Different Wanted Century Capitalism Communicate 20th Century Framework

Author:Yoko Ono

“My work was not embraced for many decades. I would have killed myself if getting embraced affected me so much.”

Ifs Decades Affected

Author:Yoko Ono

“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.”

Ifs Thinking Way Feels Should I Can Body Turns Asks Energy Source Negative Anger Angry Careful I Realized Be Careful My Thoughts Negative Energy

Author:Yoko Ono

“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.”

Ifs Want Hours Type Obsessive

Author:Yoko Ono

“If your life changes, we can change the world, too.”

Ifs World Artist Life Changing Changing The World

Author:Yoko Ono

“If everybody thinks of something, then it will happen. Your mind is part of the universe. It is connected, you can use its energy.”

Ifs Thinking Mind Use Happens Universe Energy Connected

Author:Yoko Ono

“Art is like breathing for me. If I don't do it, I start to choke.”

Ifs Art Art Is Breathing Choke

Author:Yoko Ono

“Energy is so important. If you don't have it, don't bother with rock and roll.”

Ifs Important Energy Rocks Bother Rock And Roll

Author:Yoko Ono

“I always thought that I was an important musician. If you don't have that confidence, why would you go on and do it?”

Ifs Important Goes On Musician

Author:Yoko Ono

“I think if you give in and accept society's stereotypes, then you start thinking, 'I cannot dance till late at night because I'm 70.'”

Ifs Thinking Giving Night Accepting Late Stereotype

Author:Yoko Ono

“If a woman writes about a domestic situation, everyone automatically assumes that it's about her.”

Ifs Writing Situation Assuming

Author:Yoko Ono

“If you go back to all my albums, they're all confessional.”

Author:Yoko Ono

“It's a waste of time to think that if you colored a painting red what might have happened if you painted it black.”

Ifs Thinking Might Black Happened Painting Waste Red Wasting Time Time To Think

Author:Yoko Ono

“People accuse artists of being narcissists - of course we are! If we don't like ourselves, who's going to like us?”

People Ifs Artist Courses Narcissist

Author:Yoko Ono

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

Ifs Way Use Bigs Energy Good Way

Author:Yoko Ono

“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.”

Ifs Art Matter Art Is No Matter What Critics Inspired Museums Great Art Gallery

Author:Yoko Ono

“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.”

Ifs Way Should Made Break Groups Blame Myth Being Thankful Crumbling Blame Me

Author:Yoko Ono

“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.”

People Ifs Enjoy Walks Sky Empty Parks

Author:Yoko Ono

“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.”

Ifs Trying Art Age Together Form Desire Artist Courses Sound Fields Limits Incredibles Mediums Why Not Gathering Tempting Art And Music Elasticity

Author:Yoko Ono

“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.”

Ifs Way Art Forget Creating Incredibles Hey Making Money Forget It Creating Art

Author:Yoko Ono

“You can't dance if you got too much muck in your head.”

Ifs Too Much Dance

Author:Yoko Ono

“Be kind once a day - even if it's just in your mind.”

Ifs Mind Kind Be Kind

Author:Yoko Ono

“I wonder why men get serious at all. They have this delicate, long thing hanging outside their bodies which goes up and down by its own will. If I were a man I would always be laughing at myself.”

Ifs Men Long Body Wonder Laughing Serious Hanging Out Delicate Up And Down Why Me Castration

Book:Grapefruit: A Book of Instructions and Drawings by Yoko Ono

Source: Grapefruit: A Book of Instructions and Drawings by Yoko Ono

“If someone is unpleasant to you, draw a halo around his or her head in your mind. He/she is an angel who came to teach you something.”

Ifs Mind Teach Learning Teaching Draws Angel Experience Drawing People In Your Life Famous Women Halos

Author:Yoko Ono

“You know harmony only exists in music-isn't that amazing? I think that if you see earth from very far away, the color is blue. That is very interesting because blue is the color of communication.”

Ifs Thinking Knows Earth Interesting Color Communication Harmony Blue Far Away Very Interesting

Author:Yoko Ono

“If people want to make war they should make a color war, and paint each others’ cities up in the night in pinks and greens.”

People Ifs Want Should War Night Cities Color Paint

Author:Yoko Ono

“You should do something that will make your heart dance once a day. If you can't do that because you're too depressed, then do something that will make somebody else's heart dance.”

Ifs Should Heart

Author:Yoko Ono

“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.”

Ifs Knows Way Courses Scared Truth Comes Out

Author:Yoko Ono

About the Author

Born: February 18, 1933
Known for: Artist
Quotes: 363

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Books & Sources

Grapefruit: A Book of Instructions and Drawings by Yoko OnoRelated source material

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