Quotes from Leonard Cohen

I'm your man.

My reputation as a Ladies' Man was a joke It caused me to laugh bitterly through the ten thousand nights I spent alone From a third-storey window above the Parc du Portugal I've watched the snow come down all day As usual there's no one here There never is

I had a good raincoat then, a Burberry I got in London in 1959. Elizabeth thought I looked like a spider in it. That was probably why she wouldn't go to Greece with me. It hung more heroically when I took out the lining, and achieved glory when the frayed sleeves were repaired with a little leather. Things were clear. I knew how to dress in those days. It was stolen from Marianne's loft in New York sometime during the early seventies. I wasn't wearing it very much toward the end.

O master of my breath, create a man around these nostrils, and gather my heart toward the gravity of your name. Form me again with an utterance and open my mouth with your praise.

My mirror twin, my next of kin Id know you in my sleep And who but you would take me in A thousand kisses deep

Let him lie among the strings until there is no hope for his daily strategy, until he cries, I am yours, I am your creature.

Blessed are you who speaks to the unworthy.

The band is playing Auld Lang Syne But the heart will not retreat There's no forsaking what you love No existential leap As witnessed here in time and blood A thousand kisses deep

The cripple here that you clothe and feed Is neither starved nor cold; He does not ask for your company, Not at the centre, the centre of the world.

Do not dress in those rags for me I know you are not poor;

In the hopelessness of every other thing, you make your place, you strengthen your presence, and I ask yo bow down before the lord of my life.

He fastened his collar to the darkness so he couldn't breathe, and he opened the book in anger to make his payment to the law.

This is the way we summon one another, but it is not the way we call upon the Name. We stand in rags, we beg for tears to dissolve the immovable landmarks of hatred. How beautiful our heritage, to have this way of speaking to eternity, how bountiful this solitude, surrounded, filled, and mastered by the Name, from which all things arise in splendour, depending one upon the other.

Awaken me, lord, from the dream of despair, and let me describe my sin. I would not fall into the bewilderment to which your name invited me. I established a court, and I fell asleep under a crown, and I dreamed I could rule the wicked. Awaken me to the homeland of my heart where you are worshipped forever. Awaken me to the mercy of the breath which you breathe into me.

Mintea mea zboar? tot mai departe de-a lungul acestei È™osele înguste, mânat? de curiozitate, str?lucind de acceptare, tot mai departe, ca un cârlig cu pene, aruncat cu m?iestrie È™i înfipt adânc în lumina de deasupra pârâului. Undeva, unde eu nu pot ajunge È™i unde nu mai am control, cârligul se îndreapt? È™i devine suli??, suliÈ›a se scurteaz? È™i devine ac, iar acul coase lumea la un loc.

Now our Nile has turned to blood and in the cafes the scholars jest about a cosmic wound. Priests no longer smile at our catalogue of charities and even the beggars whom we pity and love refuse our coins with a curse.

If I knew where the good songs were, I'd go there more often. It's a mysterious condition. It's much like the life of a Catholic nun. You're married to a mystery.

I confess I meant to grow wings and lose my mind I confess that I've forgotten what for Why wings and a lost mind

I suffer from the Virgo disease: nothing I did was pure enough. I was never sure whether I wanted disciples or partisans. I was never sure if I wanted Parliament or a hermitage.

Brevman conosce una ragazza di nome Shell che si è fatta fare i buchi alle orecchie per mettersi lunghi orecchini di filigrana. I fiori si sono infettati e adesso lei ha una piccola cicatrice su ciascun lobo. Lui le ha scoperte sotto i capelli di lei. (…) I bambini mostrano le cicatrici come medaglie. Gli amanti le usano come segreti da svelare. Una cicatrice è quello che succede quando la parola si fa carne.

to the young let me say: I am not sage, rebbe, roshi, guru I am Bad Example. to experienced persons who have criticized my life work as cheap, superficial, pretentious, insignificant: you do not know how Right you are.

Jos pääni hohtaisi ja ihmiset alkaisivat tuijottaa rautiovaunuissa; ja voisin venyttää vartaloni läpi kirkkaan veden sekä viipyä kalojen ja rantakäärmeiden rinnalla; jos voisin turmella sulkani lennolla auringon edessä; luuletko että pysyisin tässä huoneessa, lausumassa sinulle runoja, kehitellen hävyttömiä fantasioita huultesi vähäisimmistäkin liikkeistä?

Si strinsero le mani, si baciarono quando la luce fu abbastanza fioca, filtrando dorata attraverso i cespugli spinosi. Poi tornarono lentamente a casa, senza tenersi per mano, ma urtandosi a vicenda.

mitä minä kertoisin sinulla vaelluksesta kun tällä tyhjällä taivaalla poismenneiden kesän lintujen teräväpiirteiset haamut vielä etsivät vanhoja jälkiä; tai epätoivoisista lennoista kun vaimeinkin kirjavan siiven havina nostattaa riemun suosikkikaduillemme kuvitteellisessa keväässä