Quotes by Leonard Cohen

Except for a couple of hours in the morning which I passed in the company of a sage I stayed in bed without food only a few mouthfuls of water “you are a fine looking old man” I said to myself in the mirror “and what is more you have the correct attitude You don’t care if it ends or if it goes on And as for the women and the music there will be plenty of that in Paradise” Then I went to the Mosque of Memory to express my gratitude

A teacher I once had told me that the older you get, the lonelier you become and the deeper the love you need. Loneliness creates an appetite for deeper love, and the entire predicament deepens. And as a result of suffering, your capacity to love deeply increases.

And may my bronze name / touch always her thousand fingers / grow brighter with her weeping / until I am fixed like a galaxy / and memorized / in her secret and fragile skies.

How quickly pettiness returns, and that most ignoble form of real estate, the possessive occupation and tyranny over two square inches of human flesh, the wifes cunt.

There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.

Blessed is the covenant of love, the covenant of mercy, useless light behind the terror, deathless song in the house of night.

Blessed are you who circled desire with a blade, and the garden with fiery swords, and heaven and earth with a word.

Though I love your company, your instructions are wasted her. I will always choose the woman who caries me off, I will always sit with the family of loneliness.

My animal howlsMy angels upsetBut Im not allowedA trace of regret

It is easy to display a wound, the proud scars of combat. It is hard to show a pimple

You should gofrom place to placerecovering the poemsthat have been written for youto which you can affix your signature.Dont discuss these matterswith anyone.Retrieve. Retrieve.When the basket is fullsomeone will appearto whom you can present it.

Sexuality is general, and although only one man may be receiving the favors of a woman, all men in her presence are warm. Thats the great generosity of women and the great generosity of the creator who worked it out that way, that there are no unilateral agreements of sexuality.

Show me slowly what I onlyknow the limits ofDance me to the end of love

If I spelled out the Principles of FaithI would be barking on the moon.

I know she is coming I know she will look And that is the longing And this is the book.

The RemoteI often think about youwhen I’m lying alone inmy room with my mouthopen and the remotelost somewhere in the bed.

Dear friend, I have searched all nightthrough each burnt paper,but I fear I will never findthe formula to let you die

Everybody knows that the dice are loadedEverybody rolls with their fingers crossedEverybody knows the war is overEverybody knows the good guys lostEverybody knows the fight was fixedThe poor stay poor, the rich get richThats how it goesEverybody knows

Remember when I moved in you and the holy dove was moving too, and every breath we drew was, Hallelujah.

There is a crack in everything