Leonard Cohen

It was a dance of masks and every mask was perfect because every mask was a real face and every face was a

— Leonard Cohen

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

— Leonard Cohen

Deprivation is the mother of poetry.

— Leonard Cohen

so much of the world is plunged in darkness and chaos...

— Leonard Cohen

Who could have foretold

— 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

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

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

— Leonard Cohen

Show me slowly what I only

— 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

Bind me to your will, bind me with these threads of sorrow, and gather me out of the afternoon where I have torn my soul on twenty monstrous altars, offering all things but myself.

— Leonard Cohen

My reputation as a ladies' man was a joke. It caused me to laugh bitterly through the 10,000 nights I spent alone.

— Leonard Cohen

And you kissed me never been your lover

— Leonard Cohen

Rust rust rust in the engines of love and time

— Leonard Cohen

Although only one man may be receiving the favors of a woman, all men in her presence are warmed. That's the great Generosity of women and the great generosity of the Creator who worked it out is that there are no unilateral agreements on sexuality.

— Leonard Cohen

God is alive. Magic is afoot. God is alive. Magic is afoot. God is afoot. Magic is alive. Alive is afoot. Magic never died. God never sickened. Many poor men lied. Many sick men lied. Magic never weakened. Magic never hid. Magic always ruled. God is afoot. God was ruler though his funeral lengthened. Though his mourners thickened Magic never fled...

— Leonard Cohen

It was only when you walked away I saw you had the perfect ass. Forgive me for not falling in love with your face or your conversation.

— Leonard Cohen

Only in Canada could somebody with a voice like mine win 'Vocalist of the Year'.

— Leonard Cohen

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.

— Leonard Cohen

first of all nothing will happen

— Leonard Cohen

Now, I don't want to give you the impression that I'm a great musicologist, but I'm a lot better than what I was described as for a long, long time; you know, people said I only knew three chords when I knew five.

— Leonard Cohen

I feel that, you know, the enormous luck I've had in being able to make a living, and to never have had to have written one word that I didn't want to write, to be able to have satisfied that dictum I set for myself, which was not to work for pay, but to be paid for my work — just to be able to satisfy those standards that I set for myself has been an enormous privilege.

— Leonard Cohen

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.

— Leonard Cohen

At first first nothing will happen to us

— Leonard Cohen

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.

— Leonard Cohen

And she shows you where to look While Suzanne holds the mirror.

— Leonard Cohen

And Jesus was a sailor He sank beneath your wisdom like a stone

— Leonard Cohen

It's true that all the men you knew were dealers who is reaching for the sky just to surrender.

— Leonard Cohen

Like any dealer he was watching for the card He was just some Joseph looking for a manger.

— Leonard Cohen

O you've seen that man before And he wants to trade the game he plays for shelter

— Leonard Cohen

I told you when I came I was a stranger.

— Leonard Cohen

It's you my love, you who are the stranger.

— Leonard Cohen

Please understand, I never had a secret chart you don't know what he's after.

— Leonard Cohen

Oh the sisters of mercy, they are not departed or gone. Oh I hope you run into them, you who've been travelling so long.

— Leonard Cohen

Yes, you who must leave everything that you cannot control, When you're not feeling holy your loneliness says that you've sinned.

— Leonard Cohen

When they lay down beside me I made my confession to them. They will bind you with love that is graceful and green as a stem.

— Leonard Cohen

When I left they were sleeping, I hope you run into them soon. We weren't lovers like that and besides it would still be all right.

— Leonard Cohen

I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm, Hey, that's no way to say goodbye.

— Leonard Cohen

Like a bird on the wire, I have tried in my way to be free.

— Leonard Cohen

You who build these altars now by a demon or a god.

— Leonard Cohen

When it all comes down to dust I will kill you if I must, I will help you if I can. When it all comes down to dust I will help you if I must, I will kill you if I can.

— Leonard Cohen

I finally broke into the prison Even damnation is poisoned with rainbows

— Leonard Cohen

Now I've heard there was a secret chord The baffled king composing Hallelujah

— Leonard Cohen

You say I took the name in vain The holy or the broken Hallelujah

— Leonard Cohen

I remember when I moved in you Hallelujah.

— Leonard Cohen

I did my best, it wasn't much With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah.

— Leonard Cohen

The captain called me to his bed and fumbled for my hand If it's not the crucifixion then it's the holocaust."

— Leonard Cohen

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".

— Leonard Cohen

They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin.

— Leonard Cohen

I'm guided by a signal in the heavens First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin.

— Leonard Cohen

Ah, you loved me as a loser, but now you're worried that I just might win First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin.

— Leonard Cohen

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded Everybody knows.

— Leonard Cohen

Everybody knows that you love me baby And everybody knows

— Leonard Cohen

If you want a lover I'll wear a mask for you.

— Leonard Cohen

Here I stand, I'm your man.

— Leonard Cohen

My friends are gone and In the Tower Of Song.

— Leonard Cohen

You can say that I've grown bitter but of this you can be sure. but I may be wrong…

— Leonard Cohen

I've seen the future, brother:it is murder.

— Leonard Cohen

Waiting for the miraclesince the end of World War II.

— Leonard Cohen

If you're squeezed for information,for the miracle to come.

— Leonard Cohen

We're drinking and we're dancingThe place is dead as Heaven on a Saturday night.

— Leonard Cohen

Ring the bells that still can ring.That's how the light gets in.

— Leonard Cohen

I heard of a man

— Leonard Cohen

Every heart to love will come But like a refugee.

— Leonard Cohen

But I’m stubborn as those garbage bags Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

— Leonard Cohen

I smile when I'm angry, I cheat and I lie. and I'd die for the truth in my secret life.

— Leonard Cohen

And here you are hurried, That it's all built upon.

— Leonard Cohen

Here is your cross, That lists where it will

— Leonard Cohen

May everyone live, And my love, Goodbye.

— Leonard Cohen

All busy in the sunlight In formless circumstance.

— Leonard Cohen

I'll try to say a little more: Love Itself was gone.

— Leonard Cohen

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

— Leonard Cohen

I swept the marble chambers, You forbid delivery.

— Leonard Cohen

They're lining up the prisoners I didn't know I had permission to murder and to maim.

— 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. It is easy to display a wound, the proud scars of combat. It is hard to show a pimple.

— Leonard Cohen

I fought against the bottle but I had to do it drunk

— Leonard Cohen

So the great affair is over if you really want to go that far.

— Leonard Cohen

And sometimes when the night is slow A Thousand Kisses Deep.

— Leonard Cohen

The candles burned And half the perfect world is found.

— Leonard Cohen

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."

— Leonard Cohen