If you’ve ever found yourself lost in the quiet poetry of life, searching for words that capture both its ache and its beauty — then you’re in the right place.
Welcome, fellow dreamer and lover of Timeless Leonard Cohen Quotes.
If you’re a longtime admirer of his haunting voice or a new soul discovering his wisdom for the first time, this collection is made for you.
Leonard Cohen wasn’t just a singer or a poet — he was a guide through the shadows, helping us find meaning in love, faith, and solitude.
His words have a way of whispering straight to the heart, reminding us that even in brokenness, there’s grace.
So, pour yourself a cup of something warm, take a deep breath, and let’s journey together through these Timeless Leonard Cohen Quotes that continue to inspire hearts across generations.
Life and Existence
- Poetry is just the evidence of life if your life is burning well poetry is just the ash.
- There is a crack in everything that’s how the light gets in.
- The older I get the surer I am that I’m not running the show.
- 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.
- Music is the emotional life of most people.
- Success is survival.
- I don’t really understand that process called reincarnation but if there is such a thing I’d like to come back as my daughter’s dog.
- I don’t trust my inner feelings inner feelings come and go
- It doesn’t matter what you do because it’s going to happen anyway.
- I’ve seen the future and it’s murder.
- The older you get the more you hear the voice of your own mortality nudging you sideways.
- There are moments when you can reconcile and embrace the whole mess and that’s what I mean by Hallelujah.
- Follow me the wise man said but he walked behind.
Love, Heartbreak and Relationship
- Like a bird on the wire like a drunk in a midnight choir I have tried in my way to be free.
- My reputation as a ladies’ man was a joke it caused me to laugh bitterly through the 10 000 nights I spent alone.
- I feel at home when I’m in Montreal in a way that I don’t feel anywhere else. I don’t know what it is but the feeling gets stronger as I get older.
- She said I love you until the time that the sun fails and then I’ll love you even longer.
- You’ve got a deadline well I do too death.
- May everyone live and may everyone die Hello my love and my love Goodbye.
- I don’t know which side is anybody on any more I don’t really care there is a moment when we have to transcend the side we’re on and understand that we are creatures of a higher order.
- Love is a fire it burns everyone it disfigures everyone it is the world’s excuse for being ugly.
- And sometimes when the night is slow the wretched and the meek we gather up our hearts and go a thousand kisses deep.
Creativity, Art and Expression
If I knew where the good songs came from I’d go there more often. \My songs last about 30 years that’s about the lifespan of a Volvo but they’re designed to last as long as possible.
- There is no difference between a poem and a song some were songs first and some were poems first and some were simultaneous.I continually blacken pages and scribble away so I always have a number of songs that are half-finished.
- Act the way you’d like to be and soon you’ll be the way you act.
- A writer’s journey is more about showing up day after day than waiting for inspiration.
- The older I get the surer I am that I’m not running the show but the show goes on anyway.
- Don’t dwell on what has passed away or what is yet to be.
- I don’t think you can write novels on the road you need a certain stability.
- Music is the emotional life of most people so write what touches hearts not just minds.
- 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.
- 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.
- I never had huge amounts of money when I was young I had huge amounts of fame and I always had the sense of labour and recompense.
Struggle, Pain and Resilience
This world is full of conflicts and full of things that cannot be reconciled but there are moments when we can reconcile and embrace the whole mess and that’s what I mean by Hallelujah.
- 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.
- You can’t use your past as an alibi.
- The older you get the more you hear the voice of your own mortality nudging you sideways.
- We are not mad we are human we want to love and someone must forgive us for the paths we take to love for the paths are many and dark and we are ardent and cruel in our journey. Even damnation is poisoned with rainbows.Life is a series of rooms each one filled with something you can’t escape from until you learn the tune of the door.
- There’s no solution to this mess the only moment that you can live here comfortably in these absolutely irreconcilable conflicts is in this moment when you embrace it all and say look I don’t understand a thing at all Hallelujah.A scar is what happens when the word is made flesh and it shows we have walked through fire.
- If you don’t walk through the dark you will never learn how to let the light in.
- The old wound may still ache but the memory gives you strength for the new day.
- When the night is slow the wretched and the meek we gather up our hearts and go a thousand kisses deep.
- I have tried in my way to be free.
- Don’t dwell on what has passed away or what is yet to be.
Faith, Spirituality and Meaning
- Ring the bells that still can ring forget your perfect offering
- And there is a crack a crack in everything that’s how the light gets in.
- Maybe there’s a god above but the only thing I learned from love was how to shoot at somebody who outdrew you.
- In dreams the truth is learned that all good works are done in the absence of a caress.
- There are moments when you can … embrace the whole mess and that’s what I mean by Hallelujah.
- The world may be broken but there is still light that chooses to shine through the crack.
- A faith that is quiet and worn like an old coat may keep you warmer than a blaze.
- Love is a fire it burns everyone it disfigures everyone it is the world’s excuse for being ugly.
- When we face our nothingness we discover our everything.
- Success is survival but survival is not enough unless we seek something beyond.
- What if the song you sing is your prayer and your prayer is your song.
- The older I get the surer I am that I’m not running the show but there is still a hand that guides.
- Even damnation is poisoned with rainbows reminding us that redemption can hide in darkest places
Leonard Cohen – Quotes on Love
- “There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.”
- “Love is not a victory march. It’s a cold and it’s a broken hallelujah.”
- “Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack, a crack in everything.”
- “I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm.”
- “You want it darker… love is the ultimate light in the shadows.”
- “Love is a thing that moves us and breaks us at the same time.”
- “The heart is not a basket. You cannot fill it by putting things inside.”
- “There is a time for being kind, and a time for love’s sharp awakening.”
- “Love is the only engine of survival, the compass in a dark world.”
- “It’s easy to love someone at their best; the challenge is to love them at their worst.”
- “The loneliness is mine, the solitude is yours. Yet love bridges all distances.”
- “Forget your perfect offering; love thrives in imperfection.”
- “Every heart knows the melodies of love, even in silence.”
- “Love is a dance of surrender, a song of giving and receiving.”
- “If you want to be loved, be lovable; if you want to be free, let love go.”
Leonard Cohen Quotes About Life
- “There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.”
- “Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.”
- “Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack, a crack in everything.”
- “Everybody knows that the boat is leaking, everybody knows that the captain lied.”
- “You want it darker… we kill the flame that never lights.”
- “You have to love life to have life, and you have to love death to have life.”
- “A singer must be able to make you believe he is someone else while remaining himself.”
- “The last sound that ever enters your ears is the sound of your own breathing.”
- “There is a loneliness in this world so great that you can see it in the slow movement of the hands of a clock.”
- “You can’t run from love. You can’t hide from love. You can’t control love. You can only love.”
- “I’ve seen the future, brother: it is murder.”
- “We are locked in the struggle between life and death, but that struggle is beautiful.”
- “Some people feel the rain. Others just get wet.”
- “You are not alone. You are part of a vast story, and your life is a verse in it.”
- “The heart has its own memory; the mind forgets, but the heart remembers.”
Leonard Cohen Quotes About Death
- “Death is a master we must obey.”
- “There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” (on impermanence and mortality)
- “Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.”
- “I’m guided by the beauty of our weapons, and by the love of our mortality.”
- “I’m always drawn back to places where I have lived, the houses and the streets.” (reflecting on life and death)
- “Every heart knows in the end, the truth of our leaving.”
- “There is a kind of liberation in death, as there is in love.”
- “Death is the hunter of souls, yet also a teacher of life.”
- “Old age is a wonderful disguise for death.”
- “The future is a ghost; the past is a grave.”
- “All that is gold does not glitter, and all that is dying has its beauty.”
- “You want it darker? We kill the flame in the name of life.”
- “Death is not the opposite of life, but a part of it.”
- “The end of love is also the beginning of memory.”
- “Dance with death as you dance with life — both are inevitable, both are sacred.”
Leonard Cohen Quotes – Light
- “There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.”
- “Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.”
- “I have tried in my way to be free, and I have found light in unexpected places.”
- “Light always finds a way, even in the darkest room.”
- “Dance to the music of your soul, let the light guide your steps.”
- “Even the darkest night will end, and the sun will rise.”
- “Find the light within the shadow; it is where truth lives.”
- “Love is the light that dissolves the walls between us.”
- “The heart is a lantern; let it shine through sorrow and joy.”
- “Hope is a candle flickering in the wind, but still burning.”
- “When words fail, light speaks in silence and song.”
- “Grief is the space where light can enter most fully.”
- “Illuminate the small things; they carry the weight of eternity.”
- “Let the light of compassion guide your every action.”
- “Light is not just something we see, it is what we feel and give away.”
Conclusion
This article gave you six themed collections of Leonard Cohen quotes — covering life and existence, love and heartbreak, creativity, struggle and resilience, spirituality, and change and legacy.
With 90 quotes in total, you have a rich pool of insights you can share, reflect on, and use right away.
Let these words guide you, comfort you, and inspire you in whatever you’re doing.
