Quote

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.

Leonard Cohen

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Leonard Cohen
Age: 82 †
Born: 1934
Born: September 21
Died: 2016
Died: November 7
Film Actor
Lyricist
Musician
Novelist
Pianist
Poet
Record Producer
Screenwriter
Singer
Singer-Songwriter
Street Artist
Writer
Leonard Norman Cohen
Jikan
Certain
Description
Give
Poet
Giving
Poetry
Writing
Dangerous
Kind
Call
Always
Use
Others
Thought
Verdict

More quotes by Leonard Cohen

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I hope we [with Patrick Leonard] can come up with something orchestral with some spoken material. And I also, God willing, hope that perhaps another record of songs also might emerge, but one never knows.
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Follow me, the wise man said, but he walked behind.
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You can say that I've grown bitter but of this you can be sure. The rich have get their channels in the bedrooms of the poor. And there's a mighty Judgement coming but I may be wrong.
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The fact that my songs take a long time to write is no guarantee of their excellence.
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It's time that we began to laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again.
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ordinary eternal machinery, like the grinding of the stars
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To the men and women who own men and women those of us meant to be lovers we will not pardon you for wasting our bodies and time
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I want to be paid for my work, not work for my pay.
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I heard of a man who says words so beautifully that if he only speaks their name women give themselves to him. If I am dumb beside your body while silence blossoms like tumors on our lips it is because I hear a man climb stairs and clear his throat outside our door.
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I won't comment on what Bob Dylan said, but I will comment on his receiving the Nobel Prize, which to me is like pinning a medal on Mount Everest for being the highest mountain.
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Yes, you who must leave everything that you cannot control, It begins with your family, and soon it comes round to your soul. Well I've been where you're hanging, I think I can see how you're pinned: When you're not feeling holy your loneliness says that you've sinned.
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Your servant here, he has been told to say it clear, to say it cold: It's over, it ain't going any further And now the wheels of heaven stop you feel the devil's riding crop Get ready for the future: it is murder
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Ah, grief makes us precise!
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If you want a lover I'll do anything you ask. If you want a different kind of love I'll wear a mask. If you want to strike me down in anger here I stand. If you want a partner in life take my hand. I'm your man.
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I didn't want to write for pay. I wanted to be paid for what I write.
Leonard Cohen
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Creators care nothing for their systems except that they be unique.
Leonard Cohen
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The cutting of the gem has to be finished before you can see whether it shines.
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When you stop thinking about yourself all the time, a certain sense of repose overtakes you.
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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.
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We all need that experience of forgetting who you are. Forgetting who you are is such a delicious experience and so frightening that we're in this conflicted predicament.
Leonard Cohen