Quotations from

Leonard Cohen

About

Picture of Leonard Cohen

Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934 – November 7, 2016) was a Canadian songwriter, singer, poet, and novelist. Themes commonly explored throughout his work include faith and mortality, isolation and depression, betrayal and redemption, social and political conflict, sexual and romantic love, desire, regret, and loss. He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was invested as a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian honour. In 2011, he received one of the Prince of Asturias Awards for literature and the ninth Glenn Gould Prize. In 2023, Rolling Stone magazine named Cohen the 103rd-greatest singer of all time.

from Wikipedia

Quotes from Leonard Cohen

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.

—Leonard Cohen

We do what only lovers can: make a gift out of necessity.

—Leonard Cohen

Do not believe the truth. The truth is tiny compared to what you have to do.

—Leonard Cohen

I've always held the song in high regard because songs have got me through so many sinks of dishes and so many humiliating courting events.

—Leonard Cohen

I don't consider myself a pessimist at all. I think of a pessimist as someone who is waiting for it to rain. And I feel completely soaked to the skin.

—Leonard Cohen

If you don't become the ocean, you'll be seasick every day.

—Leonard Cohen

The finest sensibilities of the age are convulsed with pain. That means a change is at hand.

—Leonard Cohen

All paths are the same: they lead nowhere . . . They are paths going through the bush, or into the bush. In my own life I could say I have traversed long, long paths but I am not anywhere. My benefactor's question has meaning now. Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn't, it is of no use. Both paths lead nowhere; but one has a heart, the other doesn't. One makes for a joyful journey; as long as you follow it, you are one with it. The other will make you curse your life. One makes you strong; the other weakens you.

—Leonard Cohen