Leonard Cohen

Leonard Norman Cohen, CC (born September 21, 1934 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada) is a poet, novelist, and singer-songwriter. His musical career has largely overshadowed his prior work as a poet and novelist, although he has continued to publish poetry sporadically after his breakthrough in the music industry.

Quotations

• "Only in Canada could somebody with a voice like mine win 'Vocalist of the Year'."—first words of his speech accepting the Juno Award for Best Male Vocalist in Canada (1992)
• "I don't consider myself a pessimist at all. I think of a pessimist as someone who is waiting for it to rain. And I feel completely soaked to the skin."—from interview with The Daily Telegraph (1993)
• "Now, I don't want to give you the impression that I'm a great musicologist, but I'm a lot better than what I was described as for a long, long time; you know, people said I only knew three chords when I knew five."—from interview with BBC Radio 1FM (1994)
• "I feel that, you know, the enormous luck I've had in being able to make a living, and to never have had to have written one word that I didn't want to write, to be able to have satisfied that dictum I set for myself, which was not to work for pay, but to be paid for my work—just to be able to satisfy those standards that I set for myself has been an enormous privilege."—(same)
• "It was only when you walked away I saw you had the perfect ass. Forgive me for not falling in love with your face or your conversation."—from The Energy of Slaves (1972)
• "So the great affair is over/ but whoever would have guessed/ it would leave us all so vacant/ and so deeply unimpressed/ It's like our visit to the moon/ or to that other star/ I guess you go for nothing/ if you really want to go that far"—from "Death of a Ladies' Man" (1977)
• "Everybody knows that you've been faithful/ Ah give or take a night or two/ Everybody knows you've been discreet/ But there were so many people you just had to meet/ without your clothes."—from "Everybody Knows" (1988).
• "Ring the bells that still can ring/ Forget your perfect offering/ There is a crack in everything/ It's how the light gets in."—from "Anthem" (1992)