Top 40 Leonard Cohen Quotes

I read with some amusement my reputation as a ladies’ man. My friends are amused by that, too, because they know my life.

Journalists, especially English journalists, were very cruel to me. They said I only knew three chords when I knew five!

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. It’s for others; it’s for others to use.

I never had the sense that there was an end: that there was a retirement or that there was a jackpot.

I like life on the road. It’s a lot easier than civilian life. You kind of feel like you’re in a motorcycle gang.

If I knew where the good songs came from, I’d go there more often.

I don’t really understand that process called reincarnation but if there is such a thing I’d like to come back as my daughter’s dog.

The fact that my songs take a long time to write is no guarantee of their excellence.

Out of the thousands who are known or who want to be known as poets, maybe one or two are genuine and the rest are fakes, hanging around the sacred precincts, trying to look like the real thing.

I can make a couple of good sandwiches: tuna salad and chopped egg salad. And Greek bean soup. I was a cook for my old Zen master for many years. So there were two or three dishes that he liked, you know. Teriyaki salmon, a few things.

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

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

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.

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

You can keep the body as well-oiled and receptive as possible, but whether you’re actually going to be able to go for the long haul is really not your own choice.

I was born in a suit.

Songs seem to take me a long time. I don’t know why; they’re not especially excellent for taking so long.

I had girlfriends who really irritated me by their devotion to the Beatles. I didn’t begrudge them their interest, and there were songs like ‘Hey Jude’ that I could appreciate. But they didn’t seem to be essential to the kind of nourishment that I craved.

Out of the thousands who are known or who want to be known as poets, maybe one or two are genuine and the rest are fakes, hanging around the sacred precincts, trying to look like the real thing.

There’s always a group of songs that I’m working at. Some of them are 10 years old, and some of them are just a few weeks old. I’m always trying to adjust these songs to some position where I can bring them to completion.

Well, for one thing, in the tradition of Zen that I’ve practiced, there is no prayerful worship and there is no affirmation of a deity.

Women stand for the objective world for a man. They stand for the thing that you’re not and that’s what you always reach for in a song.

I have a deep tribal sense. I grew up in a synagogue that my ancestors built. I sat in the third row. My family was decent. They were good people; they were handshake people. So I never had a sense of rebellion.

As we make our way toward the finish line that some of us have already crossed, I never thought I’d get a Grammy Award. In fact, I was always touched by the modesty of their interest.

I’ve never sold widely enough to be able to relax about money. I had two kids and their mother to support and my own life. So there was never an option of cutting out.

The older I get, the surer I am that I’m not running the show.

And I had not much of a voice. I didn’t play that great guitar either.

To every people the land is given on condition. Perceived or not, there is a Covenant, beyond the constitution, beyond sovereign guarantee, beyond the nation’s 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 he’s written poetry then let the verdict be that he’s a poet.

I had the title poet, and maybe I was one for a while. Also, the title singer was kindly accorded me, even though I could barely carry a tune.

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’ve got beautiful reviews for all my books, and I’m very well thought of in the tiny circles that know me, but I’m really starving.

The basic function of popular music is to create an environment for courting, lovemaking, and doing the dishes. It’s useful because it addresses the heart in the midst of all these activities, and it will always be useful in this very important way.

I am an old scholar, better-looking now than when I was young. That’s what sitting on your ass does to your face.

My sense of proprietorship has been so weak that actually I didn’t pay attention and I lost the copyrights on a lot of the songs.

Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.

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

Torah values are the ones that inform my life.

One of the reasons I’m on tour is to meet people. I consider it a reconnaissance. You know, I consider myself like in a military operation. I don’t feel like a citizen.

I always felt I was scraping the bottom of the barrel trying to get a song together.