Leonard Cohen Quotes

1934–2016 Canada

Leonard Norman Cohen, CC, GOQ (21 September 1934 - 7 November 2016) was a Canadian poet, songwriter, singer, and novelist noted for the bold exploration of religion, politics, sexuality, personal relationships and personal isolation in his works.

Canada
Guitarists
Musicians
Novelists
Poets

Also known as: Cohen, Leonard

Random Leonard Cohen quote

78 quotes

If thine is the glory then mine must be the shame

You Want It Darker (2016)

And clenching your fist for the ones like us who are oppressed by the figures of beauty, you fixed yourself, you said, "Well never mind, we are ugly but we have the music."

I swept the marble chambers,
But you sent me down below.
You kept me from believing
Until you let me know:
That I am not the one who loves —
It's love that chooses me.
When hatred with his package comes,
You forbid delivery.

Ten New Songs (2001)

The term clinical depression finds its way into too many conversations these days. One has a sense that a catastrophe has occurred in the psychic landscape.

Rust rust rust
in the engines of love and time

This is the very contrary of dropping out. Most people can't wait to get home to their house or apartment and shut that door and turn on the TV. To me, that's dropping out.

I would like to say to you, to the leaders of the left, and the leaders of the right, I sing... I sing for everyone. My song has no flag, my song has no party.

Warsaw concert (1985)

Like any dealer he was watching for the card
that is so high and wild
he'll never need to deal another.
He was just some Joseph looking for a manger.

Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967)

Ah, you loved me as a loser, but now you're worried that I just might win
You know the way to stop me, but you don't have the discipline
How many nights I prayed for this, to let my work begin
First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin.

I'm Your Man (1988)

You whisper, "You have loved enough,
Now let me be the Lover."

Ten New Songs (2001)

And if one is to express the great inevitable defeat that awaits us all, it must be done within the strict confines of dignity and beauty.

You who build these altars now
to sacrifice these children,
you must not do it anymore.
A scheme is not a vision
and you never have been tempted
by a demon or a god.

Songs from a Room (1969)

People used to say my music was too difficult or too obscure, and I never set out to be difficult or obscure. I just set out to write what I felt as honestly as I could, and I am delighted when other people feel a part of themselves in the music.

Waiting for the miracle
There's nothing left to do.
I haven't been this happy
since the end of World War II.

The Future (1992)

I come from a country where we do not have the same struggles as you have. I respect your struggles. And it may surprise you, but I respect both sides of this struggle.

Warsaw concert (1985)

If you're squeezed for information,
that's when you've got to play it dumb:
You just say you're out there waiting
for the miracle, for the miracle to come.

I know there is an eye that watches all of us. There is a judgment that weighs everything we do. And before this great force, which is greater than any government I stand in awe and I kneel in respect and it is to this great judgment that I dedicate this next song, "Hallelujah".

Warsaw concert (1985)

All busy in the sunlight
The flecks did float and dance,
And I was tumbled up with them
In formless circumstance.

Ten New Songs (2001)

I see you standing on the other side.
I don't know how the river got so wide.

I'm Your Man (1988)

Your father's gone a-hunting
In the quicksand and the clay
And a woman cannot follow him
Although she knows the way

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Leonard Cohen (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.