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

The line asserts a faith in aesthetic experience—especially art and music—as uniquely capable of quieting conflict and restoring inner and social harmony. In Ono’s broader peace-oriented outlook, creative expression is not merely decorative but a practical force: it can bypass political rhetoric, speak across languages, and cultivate empathy. The word “only” is deliberately absolute, implying that conventional tools of power (laws, diplomacy, force) are insufficient on their own to produce genuine peace. Read this way, the quote elevates imagination and shared feeling as prerequisites for reconciliation, suggesting that peace is ultimately a cultural and emotional achievement as much as a political one.