576 Quotes by Leonard Cohen

Garages, barns and attics are always older than the buildings to which they are attached.

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

It's true that all the men you knew were dealers who said they were through with dealing Every time you gave them shelter. I know that kind of man It's hard to hold the hand of anyone who is reaching for the sky just to surrender.

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

Well I see you there with the rose in your teeth One more thin gypsy thief Yes, and thanks, for the trouble you took from her eyes I thought it was there for good so I never tried. And Jane came by with a lock of your hair She said that you gave it to her That night that you planned to go clear

The candles burned The moon went down The polished hill The milky town Transparent, weightless, luminous Uncovering the two of us On that fundamental ground Where love's unwilled, unleashed, unbound And half the perfect world is found.

If your life is a leaf that the seasons tear off and condemn they will bind you with love that is graceful and green as a stem.

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.

I finally broke into the prison I found my place in the chain Even damnation is poisoned with rainbows