Yoko Ono Quotes

Somebody said, 'You may be a committee chair.' I don't think so. I don't think anybody would want me that much.

When I'm making something, I've always felt in charge and therefore able to call the shots. But what you've got to do is stop that turning into arrogance or despotism!

My mother is very, very smart and commands respect because she has a lot of respect for herself.

It took me a long time to realize that to walk around without a certain amount of belief in myself, to walk onto a job with my tail between my legs, wasn't behooving anyone else.

The willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life is the source from which self-respect springs.

I don't think I'm egotistical as much as I'm taking responsibility for what I'm putting out there.

None of them going to treat me bad, honey, I'm too strict for that.

I think my best work is when I'm kind of in charge.

As I said, if you don't stand up for yourself, people aren't going to think that you can stand up for them.

Do we not realize that self respect comes with self reliance?

I have always believed that I should have had no difficulty in causing my rights to be respected.

We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be?

I wish sometimes people wouldn't underestimate me. But it's a fleeting wish. It's not where I live.

I still do believe in carrying yourself a certain way, and I do my best to be somewhat of a role model. I'm not a perfect person. I'm a human being. I'm not the Lord, but I do accept that responsibility, and that's why I do try to carry myself with confidence, with poise, with grace, and with class.

Sometime in my 20s, a wise mentor said something that dramatically changed my outlook and that has stayed with me ever since. She told me to 'wear the mantle with dignity and pride.'

People don't take you seriously, so you have to take yourself seriously.

I had a lot of self-doubt when I started. And I still do. But I had a lot of the wrong kind of self-doubt when I first started making music and first started to tour. I think I was a little bit deferential.

You must have the guts to throw off the chains of modesty and mediocrity in order to be the light that the world needs.

As far as beauty is concerned, in order to be confident we must accept that the way we look and feel is our own responsibility.

Let a man then know his worth and keep things under his feet.

It is an important distinction to note that she looked not only as if she had taken good care of herself, but that she had good reason to have done so. (...) She looked to be in such total possession of her life that only the most confident men could continue to look at her if she looked back at them. Even in bus stations, she was a woman who was stared at only until she looked back.

Loneliness is the penalty of leadership, but the man who has to make the decisions is assisted greatly if he feels that there is no uncertainty in the minds of those who follow him, and that his orders will be carried out confidently and in the expectation of success.

I never talk about being leaders and all the rest of it. I can only remember one or two occasions in my life when I actually issued orders, and I felt thoroughly miserable after doing it.

Sadly, if we are not confident about our choices, we can easily let other peoples' comments make us feel guilty and ruin the joy we need to experience in life through doing the little things that mean a lot to us.

if you don't believe in yourself, you'll have some difficulty in making other people believe in you.