L'OFFICIEL : Artist and Activist Yoko Ono's 10 Best Quotes

The peace activist who was once married to the Beatles’ frontman John Lennon has made profound contributions to visual art and experimental music in the last decades.

02.19.2021 by Alice Cavallo

Besides being known worldwide as the Beatles star John Lennon’s wife, famous Japanese multimedia artist, singer, and filmmaker Yoko Ono made a name for herself in the early days of her career. With avant-garde performance art that encouraged the public’s active participation and attention, the feminist-dubbed artist immediately became an influence in the New York City creative downtown scene of the early 1960s. After marrying Lennon in March 1969, Ono collaborated with her husband on multiple art, film, and musical projects until 1980, when he was shot by a mentally deranged fan in front of their apartment building, The Dakota, located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Ono has since continued her art and music career both in the U.S. and internationally, as well as put a lot of effort into honoring the memory of her beloved husband, launching the LennonOno Grant for Peace award in 2002 and creating the Imagine Peace Tower on Videy, an island in Iceland, to show their long-lasting commitment to world peace, which first opened on Lennon's birthday in 2007.

As a tribute to the peace activist’s 88th birthday, L’OFFICIEL remembers 10 of Ono's inspirational quotes on love, art, and life that are resonant still today.

"Every drop in the ocean counts."

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

"Art is my life and my life is art."

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

"But only art and music have the power to bring peace."

"You may think I’m small, but I have a universe inside my mind."

"Marriage is a gamble, let's be honest."

"Some people are old at 18 and some are young at 90. Time is a concept that humans created."

"You change the world by being yourself."

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

This article was published on L’OFFICIEL.