"I am so often accused of gloominess and melancholy. And I think I'm probably the most cheerful man around. 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. … I think those descriptions of me are quite inappropriate to the gravity of the predicament that faces us all. I've always been free from hope. It's never been one of my great solaces. I feel that more and more we're invited to make ourselves strong and cheerful. .... I think that it was Ben Jonson who said, I have studied all the theologies and all the philosophies, but cheerfulness keeps breaking through."
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Novelists from CanadaGuitarists from CanadaSinger-songwriters from CanadaPoets from MontrealScreenwriters from Canada
Original Language: English
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As quoted in "The Joking Troubadour of Gloom" in The Daily Telegraph (26 April 1993)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Leonard_Cohen
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Leonard Cohen
Leonard Norman Cohen, CC, GOQ (21 September 1934 - 7 November 2016) was a Canadian poet, songwriter, singer, and novelist noted for the bold exploration of religion, politics, sexuality, personal relationships and personal isolation in his works.
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