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Bono Quotes
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Paul David Hewson, KBE OL , known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer-songwriter, musician, venture capitalist, businessman, and philanthropist. He is best known as the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of rock band U2.

Born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, he attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his future wife, Alison Stewart, as well as schoolmates with whom he formed U2 in 1976. Bono soon established himself as a passionate frontman for the band through his expressive vocal style and grandiose gestures and songwriting. His lyrics are known for their social and political themes, and for their religious imagery inspired by his Christian beliefs. During U2's early years, Bono's lyrics contributed to the group's rebellious and spiritual tone. As the band matured, his lyrics became inspired more by personal experiences shared with the other members. As a member of U2, Bono has received 22 Grammy Awards and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Bono is well known for his activism for social justice causes, both through U2 and as an individual. He is particularly active in campaigning for Africa, for which he co-founded DATA, EDUN, the ONE Campaign, and Product Red. In pursuit of these causes, he has participated in benefit concerts and met with influential politicians. Bono has been praised for his philanthropic efforts; he was granted an honorary knighthood by Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom for "his services to the music industry and for his humanitarian work", and has been made a Commandeur of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres . In 2005, Bono was named one of the Time Persons of the Year.Outside the band, he has recorded with numerous artists. He has collaborated with U2 bandmate the Edge on several projects, including: songs for Roy Orbison and Tina Turner; the soundtracks to the musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark and a London stage adaptation of A Clockwork Orange; and the refurbishment of the Clarence Hotel in Dublin. He is Managing Director and a Managing Partner of the private equity firm Elevation Partners, which has invested in several companies. Wikipedia  

✵ 10. May 1960
Bono photo
Bono: 172   quotes 8   likes

Bono Quotes

“How long, how long must we sing this song?”

Bono

"Sunday Bloody Sunday"
Lyrics, War (1983)

Singing

“religion is the artifice, you know, the building, after God has left it sometimes, like Elvis has left the building. You hold onto religion, you know, rules, regulations, traditions. I think what God is interested in is people's hearts, and that's hard enough.”

Bono

CNN Larry King Weekend (2002)

God , People , Religion , Thinking

“The music that really turns me on is either running toward God or away from God. Both recognize the pivot, that God is at the center of the jaunt.”

Bono

Rolling Stone interview (2005)

God , Music

“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.”

Bono

Rolling Stone interview (2005)

“I Don't believe in Riches but You should see Where I live”

Bono

"God Part II"
Lyrics, Rattle And Hum(1988)

“Every Artist is a Cannibal, every Poet is a Thief. All kill for inspiration and sing about their grief”

Bono

"The Fly"
Lyrics, Achtung Baby (1991)

Singing

“"We used to say, 'They have everything, but it.' We had nothing, but it".”

Bono

CNN Larry King Weekend (2002)

“This shitty world sometimes produces a rose
The scent of it lingers and then it just goes”

Bono

Cedars Of Lebanon
Lyrics, No Line On The Horizon (2009)

World

“And if You listen, I can call. And if You jump, You just might fall. And if You shout, I'll only hear You”

Bono

"Stay (Faraway,So Close)
Lyrics, Zooropa (1993)

“Of science and the human heart, there is no limit.”

Bono

Lyrics, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004)

Science , Heart

“An intellecutal tortoise racing with your bullet train.”

Bono

Lyrics, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004)

Training

“I'll show you a place, high on the desert plain. Where the streets have no name”

Bono

"Where the streets have no name"
Lyrics, The Joshua Tree (1987)

“Jesus never let me down
You know Jesus used to show me the score
Then they put Jesus in show business
Now it's hard to get in the door, angel.”

Bono

"If God Will Send His Angels"
Lyrics, Pop (1997)

Angels , Business

“Beneath the noise, below the din,
I hear a voice, it's whispering,
"In science and in medicine,
"I was a stranger, you took me in."”

Bono

"Miracle Drug"
Lyrics, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004)

Science

“All is quiet on New Year's Day”

Bono

"New Year's Day"
Lyrics, War (1983)

“Some people got high rises on their backs.
I'm not broke but you can see the cracks.
You can make me perfect again.
All because of you
I am.”

Bono

"All Because of You"
Lyrics, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004)

People , Perfection

“These goals — clean water for all; school for every child; medicine for the afflicted, an end to extreme and senseless poverty — these are not just any goals; they are the Millennium Development goals, which this country supports. And they are more than that. They are the Beatitudes for a Globalised World.”

Bono

National Prayer Breakfast (2006)

World , School , Support , Affliction

“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.”

Bono

PENN Address (2004)

Law , Sense

“I'm the first to admit that there's something unnatural… something unseemly… about rock stars mounting the pulpit and preaching at presidents, and then disappearing to their villas in the South of France. Talk about a fish out of water. It was weird enough when Jesse Helms showed up at a U2 concert… but this is really weird, isn't it?”

Bono

National Prayer Breakfast (2006)

Star , Fish , Water

“You know that Johnny Cash song "A Boy Named Sue" where he gives the kid a girl's name, and the kid is beaten up at every stage in his life by macho guys, but in the end he becomes the toughest man. … By not encouraging me to be a musician, even though that's all he ever wanted to be, he's made me one. By telling me never to have big dreams or else, that to dream is to be disappointed, he made me have big dreams. By telling me that the band would only last five minutes or ten minutes — we're still here.”

Bono

On his father
Rolling Stone interview (2005)

Life , Dreams , Disappointment , Guy

“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.”

Bono

CNN Interview, after the 2006 Grammys http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/showbiz/2006/02/09/u2.wins.five.grammys.cnn&wm=10 (9 February 2006)

Madness

“Choose your enemies carefully ‘cos they will define you
Make them interesting ‘cos in some ways they will mind you
They’re not there in the beginning but when your story ends
Gonna last with you longer than your friend”

Bono

Cedars Of Lebanon
Lyrics, No Line On The Horizon (2009)

Way

“I can stand up for hope, faith, love
But while I'm getting over certainty
Stop helping God across the road
Like a little old lady”

Bono

Stand Up Comedy
Lyrics, No Line On The Horizon (2009)

Love , God , Faith , Hope

“Love is not the easy thing…
The only baggage you can bring
Is all that you can't leave behind.”

Bono

Lyrics, All That You Can't Leave Behind (2000), Walk On

Love

“When we were growing up, the 45 single was the heart of rock-and-roll and in many regards still is. It's the hardest thing to pull off. The surest sign that a band is growing stale and running out of creative ideas is when it turns to prog. And I well remember the 1970s when prog almost destroyed rock music. It's the mold growing on a congealed band on its last legs. Indeed, it still lurks among us in new, insidious forms like indie. The few times U2 has attempted prog, we've tempered it with good songwriting.”

Bono
Music , Idea , Time , Heart

“We're One but We're not the same. Well, We hurt each other and We'll do it again. You say love is a temple, Love a higher law. Love is a temple, Love a higher law. You ask Me to enter, then You make Me crawl. And I can't be holding on to what you got, when all You've got is hurt.”

Bono

"One"
Lyrics, Achtung Baby (1991)

Love , Law , Hurt

“We actually aren't able to play other people's songs. The one Stones song we tried to play was "Jumpin' Jack Flash." It was really bad. So we started writing our own — it was easier.”

Bono

Rolling Stone interview (2005)

People

“My name is Bono and I am a rock star.”

Bono

An allusion to Apple Computer's "switch" commercials, which ended with such statements.
PENN Address (2004)

Star

“What a city, what a night, what a crowd, what a bomb, what a mistake, what a wanker you have for a President.”

Bono

Acceptance speech at the MTV Europe Music Awards, referring to French nuclear testing in Pacific (1995)

Night

“I wish you were here
I wish you were here
To see what I could see
To hear
And I wish you were here”

Bono

"Stranger in a Strange Land"
Lyrics, October (1981)

“I will try to keep my homily brief. But be warned — I'm Irish.”

Bono

National Prayer Breakfast (2006)

“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

Rolling Stone interview (2005)

World , Way , Imagination , Idea

“Walk on, walk on
What you've got they can't deny it
Can't sell it, can't buy it
Walk on, walk on
Stay safe tonight.”

Bono

Lyrics, All That You Can't Leave Behind (2000), Walk On

“Well, the heart that hurts is a heart that beats.”

Bono

"One Step Closer"
Lyrics, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004)

Heart , Hurt

“The songs are in your eyes.
I see them when you smile.”

Bono

Lyrics, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004)

Smile

“Sometimes you can't make it.
The best you can do is to fake it.
Sometimes you can't make it on your own.”

Bono

"Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own"
Lyrics, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004)

“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.”

Bono

CNN Larry King Weekend (2002)

God , Religion , Tear , Learning

“I've never left Ireland, really, you know you come here, come to America, I mean for Irish people America is kind of a promise land" … "It's the milk and honey ya know and we've always had this feeling for this country and the country I think has a feeling for our band”

Bono

CNN Larry King Weekend (2002)

People , Feeling , Thinking , Country

“Yesterday, here in Philadelphia, at the Liberty Bell, I met a lot of Americans who do have the will. From arch-religious conservatives to young secular radicals, I just felt an incredible overpowering sense that this was possible. We're calling it the ONE campaign, to put an end to AIDS and extreme poverty in Africa. They believe we can do it, so do I.”

Bono

PENN Address (2004)

Sense

“Segregation. There was another one. America sees this now but it took a civil rights movement to betray their age. And 50 years ago the U. S. Supreme Court betrayed the age May 17, 1954, Brown vs. Board of Education came down and put the lie to the idea that separate can ever really be equal. Amen to that.”

Bono

PENN Address (2004)

Lie , Age , Education , Idea

“Have you come here for forgiveness? Have you come to raise the dead? Have you come here to play Jesus to the lepers in your head”

Bono

"One"
Lyrics, Achtung Baby (1991)

Forgiveness , Dead

“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

PENN Address (2004)

Parent , Singing

“It's much harder to be relevant than it is to be successful”

Bono

CNN Larry King Weekend (2002)

Success

“I am saying we are great. I'm not saying I'm great. There's a difference…”

Bono

CNN Larry King Weekend (2002)

“If you're wondering what I'm doing here, at a prayer breakfast, well, so am I. I'm certainly not here as a man of the cloth, unless that cloth is leather. It's certainly not because I'm a rock star. Which leaves one possible explanation: I'm here because I've got a messianic complex.
Yes, it's true. And for anyone who knows me, it's hardly a revelation.”

Bono

National Prayer Breakfast (2006)

Star , Clothes

“There is no failure here sweetheart, just when you quit.”

Bono

Lyrics, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004)

Failure

“It's a fact. So why aren't we pumping our fists in the air and cheering about it? Well probably because when we admit we can do something about it, we've got to do something about it. For the first time in history we have the know how, we have the cash, we have the lifesaving drugs, but do we have the will?”

Bono

PENN Address (2004)

History , Time

“Rock n roll stops the traffic”

Bono

Message spray-painted onto the Vaillancourt fountain during a free concert in San Francisco (11 November 1987)

“Vision over visibility”

Bono

Moment of Surrender
Lyrics, No Line On The Horizon (2009)