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.

- 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.

- Leonard Cohen

Most of the time one is discouraged by the work, but now and again by some grace something stands out and invites you to work on it, to elaborate it or animate it in some way. It's a mysterious process.

- Leonard Cohen

Women stand for the objective world for a man. They stand for the thing that you're not and that's what you always reach for in a song.

- Leonard Cohen

My two great heroes are W. B. Yeats and Federico García Lorca.

- Leonard Cohen

I was 15 when I first became deeply touched by the rhythm and structure of words.

- Leonard Cohen

Success is survival.

- Leonard Cohen

To every people the land is given on condition. Perceived or not, there is a Covenant, beyond the constitution, beyond sovereign guarantee, beyond the nation's sweetest dreams of itself.

- Leonard Cohen

Journalists, especially English journalists, were very cruel to me. They said I only knew three chords when I knew five!

- 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.

- 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.

- Leonard Cohen

I can work on a verse for a very long time before realising it's not any good and then, and only then, can I discard it.

- Leonard Cohen

When things get really bad, just raise your glass and stamp your feet and do a little jig. That's about all you can do.

- Leonard Cohen

A woman watches her body uneasily, as though it were an unreliable ally in the battle for love.

- Leonard Cohen

I didn't want to write for pay. I wanted to be paid for what I write.

- 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.

- 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.

- Leonard Cohen

The older I get, the surer I am that I'm not running the show.

- Leonard Cohen

I always felt I was scraping the bottom of the barrel trying to get a song together.

- Leonard Cohen

Children show scars like medals. Lovers use them as secrets to reveal. A scar is what happens when the word is made flesh.

- Leonard Cohen