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

Leonard Cohen

Burning Evidence Just Life

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

Leonard Cohen

Absence Caress Done Dreams

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There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in.

Leonard Cohen

Crack Everything Gets How

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When you stop thinking about yourself all the time, a certain sense of repose overtakes you.

Leonard Cohen

About Certain Repose Sense

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When things get really bad, just raise your glass and stamp your feet and do a little jig. That's about all you can do.

Leonard Cohen

About Bad Feet Get

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

Leonard Cohen

Children Flesh Happens Like

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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

Consider Feel I Feel I Think

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

Leonard Cohen

Ally Battle Body Her

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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

Acute Be True Compassion Despair

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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.

Leonard Cohen

Catastrophe Clinical Conversations Days

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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.

Leonard Cohen

Beyond Condition Constitution Covenant

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

Leonard Cohen

Act Like Soon Way

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

Leonard Cohen

Last Refuge Sense Sleeping

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

Leonard Cohen

Am Does Face I Am

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Prayer is translation. A man translates himself into a child asking for all there is in a language he has barely mastered.

Leonard Cohen

Asking Barely Child He

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Any startling piece of work has a subversive element in it, a delicious element often. Subversion is only disagreeable when it manifests in political or social activity.

Leonard Cohen

Activity Any Delicious Disagreeable

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I didn't want to write for pay. I wanted to be paid for what I write.

Leonard Cohen

I Write Paid Pay Want

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I always considered myself a minor writer. My province is small, and I try to explore it very, very thoroughly.

Leonard Cohen

Always Considered Explore Minor

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We used to play music for fun. Much more than now. Now nobody picks up a guitar unless they're paid for it.

Leonard Cohen

Fun Guitar More Much

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I never really liked poetry readings; I liked to read poetry by myself, but I liked singing, chanting my lyrics to this jazz group.

Leonard Cohen

Group Jazz Liked Lyrics

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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.

Leonard Cohen

Back Come Daughter Dog

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We're in a world where there's famine and hunger and people are dodging bullets and having their nails pulled out in dungeons so it's very hard for me to place any high value on the work that I do to write a song. Yeah, I work hard but compared to what?

Leonard Cohen

Any Bullets Compared Dungeons

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

Leonard Cohen

Amused Amusement Because Friends

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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.

Leonard Cohen

Actually Attention Been Has-Been

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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.

Leonard Cohen

Affirmation Deity One Thing Practiced

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

Leonard Cohen

Am Get I Am Older

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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.

Leonard Cohen

Also Barely Carry Could

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

Leonard Cohen

Came Go Good Knew

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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.

Leonard Cohen

Always Call Certain Dangerous

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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.

Leonard Cohen

Around Genuine Hanging Known

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

Leonard Cohen

Either Great Guitar Had

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This is the most challenging activity that humans get into, which is love. You know, where we have the sense that we can't live without love. That life has very little meaning without love.

Leonard Cohen

Activity Challenging Get Humans

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We're always experiencing joy or sadness. But there are lots of people who've closed down. And there are times in one's life when one has to close down just to regroup.

Leonard Cohen

Always Close Closed Down

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And most people have a woman in their heart, most men have a woman in their heart and most women have a man in their heart.

Leonard Cohen

Heart Man Men Most

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I don't think you can write novels on the road. You need a certain stability.

Leonard Cohen

Certain Need Novels Road

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I can work on a verse for a very long time before realising it's not any good and then, and only then, can I discard it.

Leonard Cohen

Any Before Discard Good

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I was 15 when I first became deeply touched by the rhythm and structure of words.

Leonard Cohen

Became Deeply First Rhythm

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As a young man, Yeats spoke to me in a way I could understand. Shakespeare I couldn't understand, but Yeats I could. It was his subject matter and also I really admired the way he put his personal life on the line.

Leonard Cohen

Admired Also Could He

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

Leonard Cohen

Chords Cruel English Five

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

Leonard Cohen

Always Barrel Bottom Felt

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Most of the time one is discouraged by the work, but now and again by some grace something stands out and invites you to work on it, to elaborate it or animate it in some way. It's a mysterious process.

Leonard Cohen

Again Animate Discouraged Elaborate

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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.

Leonard Cohen

Applied Back Body End

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Music is the emotional life of most people.

Leonard Cohen

Emotional Emotional Life Life Most

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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.

Leonard Cohen

Always Man Objective Reach

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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.

Leonard Cohen

Ancestors Built Decent Deep

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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.

Leonard Cohen

Appreciate Beatles Could Devotion

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As I approach the end of my life, I have even less and less interest in examining what have got to be very superficial evaluations or opinions about the significance of one's life or one's work. I was never given to it when I was healthy, and I am less given to it now.

Leonard Cohen

About Am Approach End

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

Leonard Cohen

End Had Never Retirement

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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.

Leonard Cohen

Citizen Consider Feel Know

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I've always been into self-dramatization. I intend to live forever.

Leonard Cohen

Always Been Forever Intend

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"50 Leonard Cohen Quotes & Sayings

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

Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen

When you stop thinking about yourself all the time, a certain sense of repose overtakes you.

Leonard Cohen

When things get really bad, just raise your glass and stamp your feet and do a little jig. That's about all you can do.

Leonard Cohen

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

Leonard Cohen

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

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

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

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.

Leonard Cohen

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.

Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen

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

Leonard Cohen

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

Leonard Cohen

Prayer is translation. A man translates himself into a child asking for all there is in a language he has barely mastered.

Leonard Cohen

Any startling piece of work has a subversive element in it, a delicious element often. Subversion is only disagreeable when it manifests in political or social activity.

Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen

I always considered myself a minor writer. My province is small, and I try to explore it very, very thoroughly.

Leonard Cohen

We used to play music for fun. Much more than now. Now nobody picks up a guitar unless they're paid for it.

Leonard Cohen

I never really liked poetry readings; I liked to read poetry by myself, but I liked singing, chanting my lyrics to this jazz group.

Leonard Cohen

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.

Leonard Cohen

We're in a world where there's famine and hunger and people are dodging bullets and having their nails pulled out in dungeons so it's very hard for me to place any high value on the work that I do to write a song. Yeah, I work hard but compared to what?

Leonard Cohen

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

Leonard Cohen

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.

Leonard Cohen

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.

Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen

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.

Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen

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.

Leonard Cohen

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.

Leonard Cohen

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

Leonard Cohen

This is the most challenging activity that humans get into, which is love. You know, where we have the sense that we can't live without love. That life has very little meaning without love.

Leonard Cohen

We're always experiencing joy or sadness. But there are lots of people who've closed down. And there are times in one's life when one has to close down just to regroup.

Leonard Cohen

And most people have a woman in their heart, most men have a woman in their heart and most women have a man in their heart.

Leonard Cohen

I don't think you can write novels on the road. You need a certain stability.

Leonard Cohen

I can work on a verse for a very long time before realising it's not any good and then, and only then, can I discard it.

Leonard Cohen

I was 15 when I first became deeply touched by the rhythm and structure of words.

Leonard Cohen

As a young man, Yeats spoke to me in a way I could understand. Shakespeare I couldn't understand, but Yeats I could. It was his subject matter and also I really admired the way he put his personal life on the line.

Leonard Cohen

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

Leonard Cohen

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

Leonard Cohen

Most of the time one is discouraged by the work, but now and again by some grace something stands out and invites you to work on it, to elaborate it or animate it in some way. It's a mysterious process.