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Bono Quotes (1960-)
Musician, Singer, Activist
About Bono
Paul David Hewson, KBE, OL (born 10 May 1960) is an Irish musician and social activist, who after being nicknamed Bono Vox, became famous as the lead singer of the Irish rock band, U2 using the stage name Bono.
Best Bono Quotes
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Explore our curated collection of the most famous and impactful Bono quotes.
“"It's much harder to be relevant than it is to be successful"”
“"I am saying we are great. I'm not saying I'm great. There's a difference..."”
“"We used to say, 'They have everything, but it.' We had nothing, but it".”
“Bowie was much more responsible for the aesthetic of punk rock than he's been given credit for, like, in fact, most interesting things in the Seventies and Eighties.”
“We can be the generation that no longer accepts that an accident of latitude determines whether a child lives or dies. But will we be that generation?”
“All That You Can't Leave Behind and How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb are both really mad long titles. As I've just said them, I've just realised how ridiculous the titles are.”
“Sing the melody line you hear in your own head. Remember, you don't owe anybody any explanations, you don't owe your parents any explanations, you don't owe your professors any explanations.”
“Remember what John Adams said about Ben Franklin, "He does not hesitate at our boldest Measures but rather seems to think us too irresolute."
Well, this is the time for bold measures.”
Well, this is the time for bold measures.”
“"This moment in time will be remembered for three things: the war against terror, sure; the Internet, probably; and how we let an entire continent, Africa, burst into flames and stood around with water in cans."”
“20 years on I'm not that interested in charity. I'm interested in justice. There's a difference. Africa needs justice as much as it needs charity.
Equality for Africa is a big idea. It's a big expensive idea.”
Equality for Africa is a big idea. It's a big expensive idea.”
“"Who in Ireland could have too much respect for organized religion? We've seen it tear our country in two. My mother was a Protestant. My father was a Catholic. And I learned that religion is often the enemy of God, actually."”
“So I humbly accept the honor, keeping in mind the words of a British playwright, John Mortimer it was, "No brilliance is needed in the law. Nothing but common sense and relatively clean fingernails." Well at best I've got one of the two of those.”
“You know I used to think the future was solid or fixed, something you inherited like an old building that you move into when the previous generation moves out or gets chased out. But it's not. The future is not fixed, it's fluid.”
“I really remember John Lennon's Imagine. I guess I'm twelve; that's one of my first albums. That really set fire to me. It was like he was whispering in your ear — his ideas of what's possible. Different ways of seeing the world.”
Bono Quotes by Topic
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Bono on Angels 2 quotes
“Hey if God will send his angels And if God will send a sign And if God will send his angels Would everything be alright?”
Bono on Relevance
“It's much harder to be relevant than it is to be successful.”
Bono on Sign
Bono on Explanations
“Sing the melody line you hear in your own head. Remember, you don't owe anybody any explanations, you don't owe your parents any explanations, you don't owe your professors any explanations.”
Bono on Starvation
“I'm a singer, not a politician, and I think you don't want the two to get confused. It's not OK to be on CNN talking about people starving and then tell the interviewer that your new album is coming out in six months.”
What Bono Said About Others
Discover personal opinions Bono shared regarding contemporaries.
Bono on Leonard Cohen 2 quotes
View all 2 quotes on Leonard Cohen →Bono on Imelda Marcos
“I'm the Imelda Marcos of sunglasses.”
Bono on Ronnie Drew
Bono on Aung San Suu Kyi
Bono on Julie Taymor
“Julie Taymor's definitely a magician. And I think that's what you call a person who, even though they put the rabbit in the hat, is really surprised when it comes out: that's her.”
Bono on Bob Marley
“I carried Bob Marley’s Redemption Song to every meeting I had with a politician, prime minister, or president. It was for me a prophetic utterance or as Bob would say "the small ax that could fell the big tree". The song reminded me that freedom always comes with a cost, but for those who would prepare to pay it, maybe "emancipation from mental slavery" would be our reward.”
Bono on Luciano Pavarotti
“Some can sing opera, Luciano Pavarotti was an opera. No one could inhabit those acrobatic melodies and words like him. He lived the songs, his opera was a great mash of joy and sadness; surreal and earthy at the same time; a great volcano of a man who sang fire but spilled over with a love of life in all its complexity, a great and generous friend. … I spoke to him last week... the voice that was louder than any rock band was a whisper. Still he communicated his love. Full of love. That's what people don't understand about Luciano Pavarotti. Even when the voice was dimmed in power, his interpretive skills left him a giant among a few tall men.”
Quotes About Bono
Gain deeper perspective through quotes about Bono from others.
Kofi Annan on Bono
“You have made people listen. You have made people care, and you have taught us that whether we are poor or prosperous, we have only one world to share. You have taught young people that they do have the power to change the world.”
Mick Jagger on Bono
“He's a poet. He's a philosopher. And last night, I think I saw him walking on water.”
Jeffrey Sachs on Bono
“I think that politicians are attracted at first by the celebrity but once they meet him, they find that he is outstandingly capable.”
James Traub on Bono
“He's a strange sort of entity, this euphoric rock star with the chin stubble and the tinted glasses — a new and heretofore undescribed planet in an emerging galaxy filled with transnational, multinational and subnational bodies. He's a kind of one-man state who fills his treasury with the global currency of fame. He is also, of course, an emanation of the celebrity culture. But it is Bono's willingness to invest his fame, and to do so with a steady sense of purpose and a tolerance for detail, that has made him the most politically effective figure in the recent history of popular culture.”
Jann S. Wenner on Bono
“Bono gives us a vision of how tomorrow can be better than today. He appeals to something greater than ourselves. He tells the story of his life and struggles in terms everyone can understand. He speaks about faith in a way that even a nonbeliever can embrace.”
Time on Bono
“For being shrewd about doing good, for rewiring politics and re-engineering justice, for making mercy smarter and hope strategic and then daring the rest of us to follow, Bono is Time's Person of the Year.”
About Bono
Paul David Hewson, KBE, OL (born 10 May 1960) is an Irish musician and social activist, who after being nicknamed Bono Vox, became famous as the lead singer of the Irish rock band, U2 using the stage name Bono.