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.
Interpretation
Creative work is often discouraging, but moments of inspiration can motivate us to continue.
In this quote, Leonard Cohen reflects on the dual nature of artistic creation. He acknowledges that while the process can often feel overwhelming and discouraging, there are fleeting moments of grace that inspire and invite artists to engage deeply with their work, suggesting that creativity is a mysterious and often unpredictable journey filled with both struggle and moments of clarity.
In practice
In a motivational speech to artists about persevering through creative blocks.
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.
Ring the bells that still can ring.
I've returned to being an amateur without any ties or strings attached, which gives me a freedom I never had before.
What music is better able to do than language is to represent the complexity of human emotional states.
I experience a period of frightening clarity in those moments when nature is so beautiful. I am no longer sure of myself, and the paintings appear as in a dream.
You know, the camera is not meant just to show misery.
The simplest act of surrealism is to walk out into the street, gun in hand, and shoot at random.
The first thing a writer should be is - excited. He should be a thing of fevers and enthusiasms. Without such vigor, he might as well be out picking peaches or digging ditches; God knows it'd be better for his health.
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