It wouldn’t be wrong to say that Leonard Cohen is Canada’s gem – he is definitely one of the most loved Canadian singers, songwriters, poets and novelists that the world takes pride in. Bestowed with the nations’ highest honour, Companion of the Order of Canada, Leonard Cohen is a fascinating and enigmatic singer-songwriter from the 1960s who commands the attention of the critics and the aspiring musician even at the 21st century while making music. His music is deeply poetic and inspirational and manages to retain the attention of the audience, despite his four decades of music making career. For his remarkable talent and impeccable style, Cohen has been inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Cohen’s career in art has witnessed him pursue multiple art forms in a short span. He started off as a writer, novelist and poet spinning out classics before pursuing music. Most of his work explores religion, politics, isolation, sexuality, and personal relationships. The same can also be seen in his quotes that give readers a new perspective to life. Check this section and find some of the best quotes by Leonard Cohen.
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
My friends are gone and my hair is grey.
I ache in places I used to play.
And I’m crazy for love but I’m not coming on.
I’m just paying my rent every day in the tower of song.
We are not mad. We are human.We want to love, and someone must forgive us for the paths we take to love, for the paths are many and dark, and we are ardent and cruel in our journey.
A sip of wine, a cigarette,
And then it’s time to go.
I tidied up the kitchenette;
I tuned the old banjo.
I’m wanted at the traffic-jam.
They’re saving me a seat.
Everybody knows that the dice are loaded,
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed,
Everybody knows that the war is over,
Everybody knows the good guys lost.
I almost went to bed
without remembering
the four white violets
I put in the button-hole
of your green sweater
and how i kissed you then
and you kissed me
shy as though I’d
never been your lover
And may my bronze name / touch always her thousand fingers / grow brighter with her weeping / until I am fixed like a galaxy / and memorized / in her secret and fragile skies.
Yeah I missed you since the place got wrecked
By the winds of change and the weeds of sex
looks like freedom but it feels like death
it's something in between, I guess
it's closing time.
It’s a depressing habit you have of loving to sneeze and of eating apples as if they were juicier for you and being the first one to exclaim how good the movie is. You depress people. We like apples too.
When you call me close
to tell me
your body is not beautiful
I want to summon
the eyes and hidden mouths
of stone and light and water
to testify against you.
So much of the world is plunged in darkness and chaos...
So ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.
Garages, barns and attics are always older than the buildings to which they are attached.
Leonard Cohen
The Dream"
"O I had such a wonderful dream, she said. I dreamed you made love to me.
At last, he said to himself, the spirit
has taken up some of the heavy work.
He can love the shape of human beings, the fine and twisted shapes of the heart. It is good to have among us such men, such balancing monsters of love.
