50 Best Leonard Cohen Quotes That Are Very Poetic

Leonard Cohen is a Canadian poet, songwriter, and author.

Leonard Cohen explored religion, depression, life, death, love, politics, and isolation through his works.  He pursued his career as a poet and novelist and it was not until 1967, that he took up music as one of his career interests.

At the age of 33, he released 'Songs of Leonard Cohen', his first music album in 1967. This was followed by three other albums, which were widely accepted by the audience. Here we bring a few of the interesting Leonard Cohen quotes. For similar articles, please read [Woodie Guthrie quotes] and Thelonious Monk quotes.
 

Leonard Cohen Quotes On Life

Leonard Cohen's life revolved mostly around music, poems, and other literary works. His perspective about love and life is music and poetry. Here we bring some of the best Leonard Cohen love quotes and life quotes.

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

— Leonard Cohen.

2.“This is the most challenging activity that humans get into, which is love."

— Leonard Cohen.

3."Music is the emotional life of most people."

— Leonard Cohen.

4."Here's to the few who forgive what you do, and the fewer who don't even care"

— Leonard Cohen.

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

— Leonard Cohen.

6."The last refuge of the insomniac is a sense of superiority to the sleeping world."

— Leonard Cohen.

7."As our eyes grow accustomed to sight they armour themselves against wonder. "

— Leonard Cohen, 'The Favorite Game.'

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

— Leonard Cohen.

9."It's hard to hold the hand of anyone who is reaching for the sky just to surrender"

— Leonard Cohen.

10."A kite is a victim you are sure of. You love it because it pulls."

— Leonard Cohen.

11."Remember when I moved in you and the holy dove was moving too, and every breath we drew was, 'Hallelujah'."

— Leonard Cohen.

12."He knew that hair couldn't feel; he kissed her hair."

— Leonard Cohen, 'The Favorite Game.'

13."There is a war between the ones who say there is a war and the ones who say there isn't."

— Leonard Cohen.

14."When you're not feeling holy, your loneliness says that you've sinned. "

— Leonard Cohen.

15."Friend, when you speak this carefully I know it is because you don't know what to say."

— Leonard Cohen.

16. "You know, we have the sense that we cannot live without love, that life has very little meaning without it.”

— Leonard Cohen.

Leonard Cohen Quotes On Death

Leonard Cohen had been writing about death since his early ages. 'So Long Ago, Nancy', his literary work in the late 1960s talks about the death of a friend by suicide. Here are a few Leonard Cohen quotes about death.

17."Never close your eyes and jerk your head to one side when you talk about death."

― Leonard Cohen, 'Death of a Lady's Man'.

18."It doesn't matter what you do because it's going to happen anyway."

— Leonard Cohen.

19."Even damnation is poisoned with rainbows."

— Leonard Cohen.

20."We are so lightly here. It is in love that we are made. In love we disappear."

— Leonard Cohen.

Leonard Cohen End Of Love Quotes

There is a passionate lover in every poet. The emotions of love and joy can come out only when we have it in our hearts. These Leonard Cohen quotes about the end of love give us a glimpse of his emotional state.

21."Show me slowly what I only know the limits of Dance me to the end of love"

— Leonard Cohen.

22."Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin

Dance me through the panic 'til I'm gathered safely in

Lift me like an olive branch and be my homeward dove

Dance me to the end of love. "

— Leonard Cohen.

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

― Leonard Cohen, 'The Favorite Game'.

24."... I didn't fall in love of course

it's never up to you

but she was walking back and forth

and I was passing through"

— Leonard Cohen, 'Book of Longing.'

25."Act the way you'd like to be and soon you'll be the way you act."

— Leonard Cohen.

26."A woman watches her body uneasily, as though it were an unreliable ally in the battle for love."

-Leonard Cohen

27."She was made of flesh and eyelashes."

— Leonard Cohen, 'The Favorite Game.'

28."I'm planning a catastrophe."

— Leonard Cohen, 'The Favorite Game.'

29."Deprivation is the mother of poetry."

— Leonard Cohen, 'The Favorite Game.'

These Leonard Cohen marriage quotes explain his thoughts about marriage.

30.“I think marriage is the hottest furnace of the spirit today. Much more difficult than solitude, much more challenging for people who want to work on themselves."

— Leonard Cohen .

31."It’s a situation in which there are no alibis, excruciating most of the time… but it’s only in this situation that any kind of work can be done.”

— Leonard Cohen .

Leonard Cohen Quotes On Buddhism

Leonard Cohen began following Buddhism in the 1970s and was later ordained as a Priest in 1996. 'Book of Longing' was considered to be one of his finest works. Here are some Leonard Cohen's quotes on Buddhism and spirituality.

32.“My life was filled with great disorder, with chaos, and I achieved a little discipline there. So I decided to return to music.”

-Leonard Cohen.

33."You go your way, I'll go your way too"

— Leonard Cohen, 'Book of Longing.

34."Well, I never became a Buddhist, to tell you the truth."

— Leonard Cohen to Terry Gross in an interview.

35."We are ugly but we have the music."

— Leonard Cohen.

36."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."

— Leonard Cohen.

37."I have tried in my way to be free."

— Leonard Cohen.

38."Act the way you d like to be and soon you'll be the way you act. ..."

— Leonard Cohen.

39."first of all nothing will happen and a little later nothing will happen again"

— Leonard Cohen, 'Book of Longing.'

Leonard Cohen Poems

Leonard Cohen started his journey as a poet after he enrolled at McGill University in 1951. He was recognized at the undergraduate level for his poems - 'Sparrows' and 'Thoughts of a Landsman'. Here we bring a few Leonard Cohen quotes and poems.

40.“There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in.”

― Leonard Cohen, 'Selected Poems, 1956-1968'.

41."Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack in everything

That's how the light gets in."

— Leonard Cohen.

42."Don't call yourself a secret unless you mean to keep it."

— Leonard Cohen 'Selected Poems 1956-1968.'

43."I have often prayed for you like this Let me have her"

— Leonard Cohen.

Leonard Cohen 'Beautiful Losers' Quotes

Leonard Cohen's success as a poet made him also pursue a career as a novelist. His second book 'Beautiful Losers' attracted the Canadian Press and was considered controversial for its various explicit graphic passages. Here are a few Leonard Cohen quotes from his book.

44. “How can I begin anything new with all of yesterday in me?”

— Leonard Cohen, 'Beautiful Losers.'

45."Reality is one of the possibilities I cannot afford to ignore"

— Leonard Cohen, 'Beautiful Losers.'

46."Never make a decision when you need to pee."

— Leonard Cohen, 'Beautiful Losers.'

47."Do not be a magician - be magic!"

— Leonard Cohen, 'Beautiful Losers.'

Leonard Cohen's Songs Quotes About Life

Leonard Cohen took up a career as a musician at the age of 33. He felt disappointed about his career as a writer and moved to the US to pursue a career in folk-music and songwriter. Here are a few Leonard Cohen quotes on songs and songwriting quotes by Leonard Cohen.

48."A heavy burden lifted from my soul,

I heard that love was out of my control."

— Leonard Cohen 'Stranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs.'

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

-Leonard Cohen.

50."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."

-Leonard Cohen.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Leonard Cohen Quotes then why not take a look at Billie Holiday quotes, or Bob Dylan quotes.

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