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
I never had huge amounts of money when I was young. I had huge amounts of fame, and I always had the sense of labor and recompense. I always said I don’t want to work for pay, but I want to get paid for my song. – 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
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
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 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 think that Bob Dylan knows this more than all of us: you don’t write the songs anyhow. So if you’re lucky, you can keep the vehicle healthy and responsive over the years. If you’re lucky, your own intentions have very little to do with this. – 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
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
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. – Leonard Cohen
I don’t have any sense or urgency about any of my writing, actually. I don’t think mankind will be damaged if I don’t put out a new album or a new book. – Leonard Cohen
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. – 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
A woman watches her body uneasily, as though it were an unreliable ally in the battle for love. – 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
The fact that my songs take a long time to write is no guarantee of their excellence. – 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
Songs seem to take me a long time. I don’t know why; they’re not especially excellent for taking so long. – 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 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
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. – Leonard Cohen
When you stop thinking about yourself all the time, a certain sense of repose overtakes you. – 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
