quotes from classic
/ page 805 of 1205 /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.
more quotes from Leonard Cohen
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.
more quotes from Leonard Cohen
Well, for one thing, in the tradition of Zen that I've practiced, there is no prayerful worship and there is no affirmation of a deity.
more quotes from Leonard Cohen
We used to play music for fun. Much more than now. Now nobody picks up a guitar unless they're paid for it.
more quotes from Leonard Cohen
I always considered myself a minor writer. My province is small, and I try to explore it very, very thoroughly.
more quotes from Leonard Cohen
The older I get, the surer I am that I'm not running the show.
more quotes from Leonard Cohen
My sense of proprietorship has been so weak that actually I didn't pay attention and I lost the copyrights on a lot of the songs.
more quotes from Leonard Cohen
I never really liked poetry readings; I liked to read poetry by myself, but I liked singing, chanting my lyrics to this jazz group.
more quotes from Leonard Cohen
I didn't want to write for pay. I wanted to be paid for what I write.
more quotes from Leonard Cohen
Success is survival.
more quotes from Leonard Cohen
I always felt I was scraping the bottom of the barrel trying to get a song together.
more quotes from Leonard Cohen
And most people have a woman in their heart, most men have a woman in their heart and most women have a man in their heart.
more quotes from Leonard Cohen
I always thought that poetry is the verdict that others give to a certain kind of writing. So to call yourself a poet is a kind of dangerous description. It's for others; it's for others to use.
more quotes from Leonard Cohen
As a young man, Yeats spoke to me in a way I could understand. Shakespeare I couldn't understand, but Yeats I could. It was his subject matter and also I really admired the way he put his personal life on the line.
more quotes from Leonard Cohen
When you stop thinking about yourself all the time, a certain sense of repose overtakes you.
more quotes from Leonard Cohen
And I had not much of a voice. I didn't play that great guitar either.
more quotes from Leonard Cohen
I read with some amusement my reputation as a ladies' man. My friends are amused by that, too, because they know my life.
more quotes from Leonard Cohen
This is the most challenging activity that humans get into, which is love. You know, where we have the sense that we can't live without love. That life has very little meaning without love.
more quotes from Leonard Cohen
My two great heroes are W. B. Yeats and Fernando Garcia Lorca.
more quotes from Leonard Cohen
I had the title poet, and maybe I was one for a while. Also, the title singer was kindly accorded me, even though I could barely carry a tune.
more quotes from Leonard Cohen
