History is a needle Leonard Cohen More Quotes by Leonard Cohen More Quotes From Leonard Cohen As I grew older, I understood that instructions came with this voice. What were these instructions? The instructions were never to lament casually. 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 dignity voice done Fare thee well my nightingale, I lived but to be near you. Thow you are singing somewhere still I can no longer hear you. Leonard Cohen singing thee love It doesn't matter what you do because it's going to happen anyway. Leonard Cohen matter happens Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash. Leonard Cohen ashes poetry writing If you don't become the ocean, you'll be seasick every day. Leonard Cohen chaos ocean inspiring The cutting of the gem has to be finished before you can see whether it shines. Leonard Cohen cutting shining writing Something I wrote quite a few years ago was, "The voices in my head, they don't care what I do, they just want to argue the matter through and through." It is a common mistake, to think you're going to go into some kind of spiritual practice and you're going to be relieved of the human burdens, from human crosses like thought, jealousy, despair - in fact, if anything, these feelings are amplified. Leonard Cohen spiritual mistake thinking A scar is what happens when the word is made flesh. Leonard Cohen self-injury wounds-and-scars flesh 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 sitting faces doe 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. Leonard Cohen moon perfect two The last refuge of the insomniac is a sense of superiority to the sleeping world. Leonard Cohen insomnia sleep world What is most original in a man's nature is often that which is most desperate. Thus new systems are forced on the world by men who simply cannot bear the pain of living with what is. Creators care nothing for their systems except that they be unique. If Hitler had been born in Nazi Germany he wouldn't have been content to enjoy the atmosphere. Leonard Cohen pain unique men My reputation as a ladies' man was a joke that caused me to laugh bitterly through the ten thousand nights I spent alone. Leonard Cohen laughing men night I'd written a lot of songs with hummingbirds in them. None of them ever came to anything, but I did write a few lines last month. It went like this: 'Listen to the hummingbird whose wings you cannot see. Listen to the hummingbird, don't listen to me'. Leonard Cohen writing wings song Everybody knows that the boat is leaking. Everybody knows the captain lied. Everybody got this broken feeling, like their father or their dog just died. Everybody talking to their pockets. Everybody wants a box of chocolates and a long-stem rose. Everybody knows. Leonard Cohen dog talking father My page was too white Leonard Cohen white writing night Now suzanne takes you hand And she leads you to the river She is wearing rags and feathers From salvation army counters And the sun pours down like honey On our lady of the harbour And she shows you where to look Among the garbage and the flowers There are heroes in the seaweed There are children in the morning They are leaning out for love And they will lean that way forever While suzanne holds the mirror And you want to travel with her And you want to travel blind And you know that she will trust you For shes touched your perfect body with her mind. Leonard Cohen hero morning children 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 sadness joy people It was a dance of masks and every mask was perfect because every mask was a real face and every face was a real mask so there was no mask and there was no face for there was but one dance in which there was but one mask but one true face which was the same and which was a thing without a name which changed and changed into itself over and over. Leonard Cohen real names perfect A saint is someone who has achieved a remote human possibility. It is impossible to say what that possibility is. I think it has something to do with the energy of love. Leonard Cohen saint energy thinking
