Children show scars like medals. Lovers use them as secrets to reveal. A scar is what happens when the word is made flesh. It is easy to display a wound, the proud scars of combat. It is hard to show a pimple.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Cohen contrasts visible scars of combat with hidden flaws like pimples, noting how humans reveal wounds but hide minor imperfections.
- In plain terms
- It is easy to show battle scars but hard to show minor physical flaws.
- What can you take from it?
- We often display significant wounds but hide small imperfections.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What flaw do you hide?
- How do you view your scars?
Another view
Some scars are too painful to display publicly.
More from Leonard Cohen
I swept the marble chambers, But you sent me down below. You kept me from believing Until you let me know: That I am not the one who loves - It's love that cho…
Permalink to quote #49 I fought against the bottle but I had to do it drunk
Permalink to quote #51 You whisper, 'You have loved enough, Now let me be the Lover.'
Permalink to quote #48
Related quotes
'Humanity is old, civilization is new: the mesh of cogs is by no means smooth and this is as it should be. Never should a man enter a building of glass or meta…
Jack VanceJack Vance quote #1 Every body is a book of blood; Wherever we're opened, we're red.
Clive BarkerClive Barker quote #2 I think the destiny of all men is not to sit in the rubble of their own making but to reach out for an ultimate perfection which is to be had. At the moment, i…
Rod SerlingRod Serling quote #4