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

justice faith doubt loss

About Leonard Cohen

Portrait 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...

More quotations from 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

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

—Leonard Cohen

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

—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

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

love music appreciation

More quotations tagged with “loss”

Sometimes life is going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith.

error faith loss

No matter how hard it feels, you don't need to be afraid to move on. There's always more to see and feel.

—Emily Henry in The Love That Split the World

loss depression moving on

It is better to have loved and lost than never to have lost at all.

—Samuel Butler

Time healed, they said, but it wasn't true, or not completely. The first raw wound of loss had closed and silvered over, yes, but the scar it had left would never heal. It would always be there, aching and tender.

—Ruth Ware in The Death of Mrs. Westaway

time pain loss healing

Grief is an unfillable hole in your body. It should be weightless, but it's heavy. Should be cold, but it burns. Should, over time, close up, but instead it deepens.

—Emily Henry in A Million Junes

grief loss body

History

22 Jun 2013 Added