I don't consider myself a pessimist. I think of a pessimist as someone who is waiting for it to rain. And I feel soaked to the skin.
Leonard Cohen

There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in.
Leonard Cohen

Act the way you'd like to be and soon you'll be the way you act.
Leonard Cohen

Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.
Leonard Cohen

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

Let judges secretly despair of justice: their verdicts will be more acute. Let generals secretly despair of triumph; killing will be defamed. Let priests secretly despair of faith: their compassion will be true.
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