When you call me close to tell me your body is not beautiful I want to summon the eyes and hidden mouths of stone and light and water to testify against you.
Interpretation
This quote expresses a deep appreciation for the beauty of a loved one, countering negative perceptions of physical appearance.
Leonard Cohen's quote reflects the profound and often conflicting emotions tied to love and beauty. It asserts that when someone speaks negatively about their physical self, it evokes a powerful response to defend their intrinsic worth and beauty. The imagery of 'the eyes and hidden mouths of stone and light and water' suggests the timeless and universal nature of beauty, implying that true beauty is not merely physical but transcendent and deserving of recognition.
In practice
A poet could use this quote in a love letter to highlight the importance of inner beauty over physical appearance.
What is most original in a man's nature is often that which is most desperate. Thus new systems are forced on the world by men who simply cannot bear the pain of living with what is. Creators care nothing for their systems except that they be unique. If Hitler had been born in Nazi Germany he wouldn't have been content to enjoy the atmosphere.
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.
Be With Me In The Phases Of My Work Because My Brain Feels Like It Has Been Whipped And I Yearn To Make A Small Perfect Thing Which Will Live In Your Morning Like Curious Static Through A President's Elegy Or A Nude Hunchback Acquiring A Tan On The Crowded Oily Beach.
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.
I think what we like about music - and what we like about art in general....is that enterprise that stops our minds from spinning. Because we're always all over the place. A good song, a good lyric is a movie: it will just focus and calm and confer significance on this completely bewildering reality that all of us live in.
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.
I shall never forgive you for teaching me how to love life.
Admiration is a very short lived passion that immediately decays upon growing familiar with its object, unless it still be fed with fresh discoveries, and kept alive by a new perpetual succession of miracles rising up to its view.
For a quart of ale is a dish for a king.
It's so dreadful to have nothing to love - life is so empty - and there's nothing worse than emptiness.
But to love something despite. To know the flaws and love them too. This is rare and pure and perfect.
Lovers who love truly do not write down their happiness.
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