Leonardo Da Vinci Quotes

Perspective is to painting what the bridle is to the horse, the rudder to a ship.

I would venture to affirm that a man cannot attain excellence if he satisfy the ignorant and not those of his own craft, and if he be not 'singular' or 'distant,' or whatever you like to call him.

Do not imitate one another's style. If you do, so far as your art is concerned you will be called a grandson, rather than the son of Nature.

The light and heat of the universe comes from the sun, and its cold and darkness from the withdrawal of the sun.

The fame of the rich man dies with him; the fame of the treasure, and not of the man who possessed it, remains.

The great man presides over all his states of consciousness with obstinate rigor.

Lust is the cause of generation Appetite is the support of life Fear or timidity is the prolongation of life, and Fraud the preservation of its instruments.

It reflects no great honour on a painter to be able to execute one thing well.

Why seek to embarrass [the artist] with vanities foreign to his quietness? Know you not that certain sciences require the whole man, leaving no part of him at leisure for your trifles?

If you call painting dumb poetry, the painter may call poetry blind painting.

I abhor the supreme folly of those who blame the disciples of nature in defiance of those masters who were themselves her pupils

The natural desire of good men is knowledge.

All knowledge which ends in words will die as quickly as it came to life, with the exception of the written word: which is its mechanical part.

Experience never misleads; what you are misled by is only your judgment, and this misleads you by anticipating results from experience of a kind that is not produced by your experiments.

We are deceived by promises and time disappoints us.

I am never weary of being useful... In serving others I cannot do enough. No labor is sufficient to tire me.

Not to appreciate life, all of life, is not to deserve it.

The eye encompasses the beauty of the whole world.

There are many kinds of beauty as people who possess it.

Most men are of naught more use in their lives but as machines for turning food into sh*t.

Black is like a broken vessel, which is deprived of the capacity to contain anything.

Knowledge ... shall always bear witness like a clarion to its creator.

The mind that engages in subjects of too great variety becomes confused and weakened.

Nothing will be left, Nothing in the air, nothing under the earth, nothing in the waters. All will be exterminated.

Old age takes in part savoury wisdom for its food - see to that your old age will not lack in nourishment.

The memory of benefits is a frail defence against ingratitude.

Ogni nostra cognitione prīcipia da sentimēti. All our knowledge has its origin in our preceptions.

I have solved what color is, however ; I still have no idea about what line is.

Constancy does not begin, but is that which perseveres.

Abbreviators do harm to knowledge and to love.

Oh! Speculators on things, boast not of knowing the things that nature ordinarily brings about; but rejoice if you know the end of those things which you yourself device.

Instrumental or mechanical science is the noblest and above all others, the most useful.

We, by our arts may be called the grandsons of God.

The part always has a tendency to reunite with its whole in order to escape from its imperfection.

Man and animals are in reality vehicles and conduits of food, tombs of animals, hostels of Death, coverings that consume, deriving life by the death of others.

Everything comes from everything, and everything is made out of everything, and everything returns into everything.

When taking a selfie, remember the most natural pose is still best

People of higher talent work, even if they seem to do nothing

Love, Fear, and Esteem, - Write these on three stones.

To lie is vile, to tell truth is excellent, if not noble.

There is no higher or lower knowledge, but one only, flowing out of experimentation.

It vexes me greatly that having to earn my living has forced me to interrupt the work and to attend to small matters.

He who does not understand the supreme certainty of mathematics is wallowing in confusion.

Vows begin when hope dies.

Threats alone, are the weapons of the threatened man.

Happy will they be who lend ear to the words of the dead.

If you do not rest on the good foundation of nature, you will labour with little honor and less profit.

When counting, try not to mix chickens with blessings.

To enjoy - to love a thing for its own sake and for no other reason.

Fear arises sooner than anything else.