Bono

Bono

23 quotes

Irish musician and activist Bono (b. 1960) remains a towering presence in the world of memorable quotations. Their reputation for his impassioned vocal style as well as his grandiose songwriting and performance style lends every quote an extra layer of authority. 24 of Bono's sharpest quotes live here, spanning themes of Music, Equality, Change, Respect, and Religion. A line that stays with you: "Religion can be the enemy of God. It's often what happens when God, like Elvis, has left the building."

“Actually oddly enough, I think my work, the activism, will be forgotten. And I hope it will. Because I hope those problems will have gone away.”

— Bono

Hope

All Quotes by Bono

“Because you know when you first become famous, you start walking a little different because people are staring at you.”

— Bono

Famous

“Music can change the world because it can change people.”

— Bono

Change

“You see, Africa makes a fool of our idea of justice. It makes a farce of our idea of equality. It mocks our pieties. It doubts our concern. It questions our commitment. Because there is no way we can look at what's happening in Africa, and if we're honest, conclude that it would ever be allowed to happen anywhere else.”

— Bono

Equality

“So what we're talking about here is human rights. The right to live like a human. The right to live, period. And what we're facing in Africa is an unprecedented threat to human dignity and equality.”

— Bono

Equality

“Marriage is this grand madness, and I think if people knew that, they would perhaps take it more seriously.”

— Bono

Marriage

“Rock music is niche.”

— Bono

Music

“When a nation is over-reliant on one or two commodities like oil or precious minerals, corrupt government ministers and their dodgy associates hoard profits and taxes instead of properly allocating them to schools and hospitals.”

— Bono

Government

“But with Christ, we have access in a one-to-one relationship, for, as in the Old Testament, it was more one of worship and awe, a vertical relationship. The New Testament, on the other hand, we look across at a Jesus who looks familiar, horizontal. The combination is what makes the Cross.”

— Bono

Relationship

“U2 is an original species... there are colours and feelings and emotional terrain that we occupy that is ours and ours alone.”

— Bono

Alone

“I accept the Old Testament as more of an action movie: blood, car chases, evacuations, a lot of special effects, seas dividing, mass murder, adultery. The children of God are running amok, wayward. Maybe that's why they're so relatable.”

— Bono

Car

“Actually oddly enough, I think my work, the activism, will be forgotten. And I hope it will. Because I hope those problems will have gone away.”

— Bono

Hope

“I think ABBA have a pure joy to their music and that's what makes them extraordinary.”

— Bono

Music

“The great moments of rock 'n' roll were never off in some corner of the music world, in a self-constructed ghetto.”

— Bono

Music

“To be one, to be united is a great thing. But to respect the right to be different is maybe even greater.”

— Bono

Respect

“Selling out is doing something you don't really want to do for money. That's what selling out is.”

— Bono

Money

“You've got to watch the politics of AIDS. The politics of AIDS can work both for and against the victims of AIDS.”

— Bono

Politics

“It's a privilege to serve the poor, to be servants of noble Africans, but I better belong in the rehearsal room or in the studio with my band. That's where I want to be and I still wake up in the morning with melodies in my head.”

— Bono

Morning

“Rock 'n' roll is ridiculous. It's absurd. In the past, U2 was trying to duck that. Now we're wrapping our arms around it and giving it a great big kiss.”

— Bono

Great

“Sub-Saharan Africa is also home to 400 million of the world's poorest people.”

— Bono

Home

“What turns me on about the digital age, what excited me personally, is that you have closed the gap between dreaming and doing. You see, it used to be that if you wanted to make a record of a song, you needed a studio and a producer. Now, you need a laptop.”

— Bono

Age