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 More Quotes by Leonard Cohen More Quotes From Leonard Cohen Act the way you'd like to be and soon you'll be the way you act. Leonard Cohen motivational inspirational life Follow me, the wise man said, but he walked behind. Leonard Cohen chaos wise men The older I get, the surer I am that I'm not running the show. Leonard Cohen shows running Like a bird on a wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir, I have tried in my way to be free!! Leonard Cohen wire drunk bird I don't think there's any difference between a crush and profound love. I think the experience is that you dissolve your sentries and your battalions for a moment and you really do see that there is this unfixed free-flowing energy of emotion and thought between people, that it really is there. Leonard Cohen crush differences thinking Well, you know, there's depression and depression. What I mean by depression in my own case is that depression isn't just the blues. It's not just like I have a hangover in the weekend ... the girl didn't show up or something like that. It isn't that. It's not really depression, it's a kind of mental violence which stops you from functioning properly from one moment to the next. You lose something somewhere and suddenly you're gripped by a kind of angst of the heart and of the spirit. Leonard Cohen hangover girl heart I see people allowing their lives to diminish, to become shallow, so they can't enjoy the deep wells of experience. Maybe it's always been this way, when the heart tends to shut down. If only the heart shut down and there were no repercussions, it would be O.K., but when the heart shuts down, the whole system goes into a kind of despair that is intolerable. Leonard Cohen despair heart people Do not be a magician - be magic! Leonard Cohen ethics moral magic You live your life as if it's real.......a thousand kisses deep Leonard Cohen real song life I’ve seen the nations rise and fall. I’ve heard their stories, heard them all, but love’s the only engine of survival. Leonard Cohen survival stories fall Avoid the flourish. Do not be afraid to be weak. Do not be ashamed to be tired. You look good when you’re tired. You look like you could go on forever. Now come into my arms. You are the image of my beauty . Leonard Cohen tired forever looks 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 daughter dog mother My two great heroes are W. B. Yeats and Federico Garcia Lorca. Leonard Cohen yeats hero two I speak of a clinical depression that is the background of your entire life, a background of anguish and anxiety, a sense that nothing goes well, that pleasure is unavailable and all your strategies collapse. Leonard Cohen strategy anxiety speak You lose your grip, and then you slip into the Masterpiece. Leonard Cohen slips masterpiece emotional When you stop thinking about yourself all the time, a certain sense of repose overtakes you. Leonard Cohen thinking-about-you about-yourself certain Your heart opens and of course you're completely panicked because you're used to guarding this organ with your life. Leonard Cohen guarding used heart I loved you for a long, long time Leonard Cohen real love believe At the very center of our culture is a crucified man, a tortured man hanging on a cross of wood. You have an image of violence at the very center of our spiritual investigation. Leonard Cohen spiritual men culture 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 Leonard Cohen olive-branches burning poetry