Quotes by Leonard Cohen

It looks like freedom but it feels like death, its something in between I guess. Its closing time.

I want history to jump on Canadas spine with sharp skates.

Children show scars like medals. Lovers use them as a secrets to reveal. A scar is what happens when the word is made flesh.

In dreams the truth is learned that all good works are done in the absence of a caress.

To every people the land is given on condition. Perceived or not, there is a Covenant, beyond the constitution, beyond sovereign guarantee, beyond the nations sweetest dreams of itself.

I think the term poet is a very exalted term and should be applied to a man at the end of his work. When he looks back over the body of his work and hes written poetry then let the verdict be that hes a poet.

Music is the emotional life of most people.

At a certain point, if you still have your marbles and are not faced with serious financial challenges, you have a chance to put your house in order. Its a cliche, but its underestimated as an analgesic on all levels. Putting your house in order, if you can do it, is one of the most comforting activities, and the benefits of it are incalculable.

Let judges secretly despair of justice: their verdicts will be more acute. Let generals secretly despair of triumph killing will be defamed. Let priests secretly despair of faith: their compassion will be true.

Success is survival.

I never really liked poetry readings; I liked to read poetry by myself, but I liked singing, chanting my lyrics to this jazz group.

I always thought that poetry is the verdict that others give to a certain kind of writing. So to call yourself a poet is a kind of dangerous description. Its for others its for others to use.

My reputation as a ladies man was a joke. It caused me to laugh bitterly through the 10,000 nights I spent alone.

“Deprivation is the mother of poetry.”

“Be With Me In The Phases Of My Work Because My Brain Feels Like It Has Been Whipped And I Yearn To Make A Small Perfect Thing Which Will Live In Your Morning Like Curious Static Through A Presidents Elegy Or A Nude Hunchback Acquiring A Tan On The Crowded Oily Beach. ”

“I loved you when you opened like a lily to the heat; you see I’m just another snowman standing in the rain and sleet who loved you with his frozen love, his second hand physique, with all he is and all he was a thousand kisses deep.”