Legendary Canadian singer, writer, and composer Leonard Cohen has passed away. The maestro died at his home in Los Angeles, at the age of 82.
The musician had released 14 albums, the last of which was released in October 2016. Cohen’s songs can often be heard in soundtracks, and numerous cover versions are made from them.

Armenian News-NEWS.am has gathered the best quotes from the interviews which folk rock legend Leonard Cohen had given throughout the years.

I am an old scholar, better-looking now than when I was young. That's what sitting on your ass does to your face.

Dylan and I were having coffee in Paris a few years ago. He was doing Hallelujah in concert and asked me how long it took to write. I said, 'Oh, the best part of two years.' He said, 'Two years?' Kinda shocked. And then we started talking about a song of his called I And I. I said, 'How long did you take to write that?' He said, 'Oh, best part of 15 minutes.' I almost fell off my chair. And the thing is I lied. Actually, it took me closer to five years. Of course he lied, too. It probably took him 10 minutes." 

If I knew where the good songs came from, I'd go there more often. It's a mysterious condition. It's much like the life of a Catholic nun. You're married to a mystery.

"There's truth that lives and truth that dies. I don't know which, so never mind. There is no need that this survive, there's truth that lives and truth that dies." It's one of those phrases («Nevermind») that resonates in some corner of the heart. And I don't think it serves us well to explain it or to analyze it or to interpret it. It sounded right to me. There are certain truths that are in a dormant stage that you can't always locate or be nourished by. But they're there.

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.

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

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.

The older I get, the surer I am that I’m not running the show.

Do not be ashamed to be tired.

The last refuge of the insomniac is a sense of superiority to the sleeping world.

There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in.

I feel tremendously relieved that I'm not worried about my happiness," he says. "There are things, of course, that make me happy: when I see my children well, when I see my daughter's dogs, a glass of wine.

I never discuss my mistresses or my tailors.

There's a few songs that I would like to finish before I die. One in particular, it's a lovely melody that I can't find any words for. I've been trying for a good 15 years. I've tried many, many versions. And God willing, maybe something will happen.

Some people care about their work lasting forever – I have little interest in it. You probably know that great story about Bob Hope. His wife came to him and said, "There's two plots available at Forest Lawn. One looks at some beautiful cypress trees, one looks over the valley. Which do you think you'd prefer?" He said, "Surprise me." That's the way I feel about posterity and how I'm remembered. Surprise me.