Leonardo Da Vinci Quotes

Perspective is a most subtle discovery in mathematical studies, for by means of lines it causes to appear distant that which is near, and large that which is small.

Science is the observation of things possible, whether present or past; prescience is the knowledge of things which may come to pass, though but slowly.

We ought not to desire the impossible.

The good painter must paint two things: a person and the essence of his soul.

The earth is moved from its position by the weight of a tiny bird resting upon it.

Who would believe that so small a space could contain the images of all the universe?

The soul can never be corrupted with the corruption of the body, but it is like the wind which causes the sound of the organ, and which ceases to produce a good effect when a pipe is spoilt.

Shadow is the diminution alike of light and of darkness, and stands between darkness and light.

Men standing in opposite hemispheres will converse and deride each other and embrace each other, and understand each other's language.

Necessity is the mistress and guide of nature.

Make yourself a master of perspective, then acquire perfect knowledge of the proportions of men and other animals.

Movement will fail sooner than usefulness.

I am still hopeful. A falcon, Time. But the coincidence is probably accidental.

Nature alone is the master of true genius.

The boundaries of bodies are the least of all things.

The faculty of imagination is both the rudder and the bridle of the senses.

Our body is dependent on heaven and heaven on the Spirit.

Men and words are ready made, and you, O Painter, if you do not know how to make your figures move, are like an orator who knows not how to use his words.

The bones of the Dead will be seen to govern the fortunes of him who moves them.

Experiment is the sole interpreter of the artifices of Nature.

The painter strives and competes with nature.

Thirst will parch your tongue and your body will waste through lack of sleep ere you can describe in words that which painting instantly sets before the eye.

Some promises and time disappoint us

Many will be busied in taking away from a thing, which will grow in proportion as it is diminished.

Those who condemn the supreme certainty of mathematics feed on confusion, and can never silence the contradictions of the sophistical sciences which lead to eternal quackery.

The vine that has grown old on an old tree falls with the ruin of that tree, and through that bad companionship must perish with it.

Any color is more distinctly seen when opposed to its contrary: thus, black on white, blear near yellow, green near red, and so on.

In the days of thy youth seek to obtain that which shall compensate the losses of thy old age.

He who despises painting has no love for the philosophy in nature.

Perspective is the rein and rudder of painting.

The senses are of the earth, the reason stands apart from them in contemplation.

We may call painting the grandchild of nature.

Though I may not . . . be able to quote other authors, I shall rely on that which is much greater and more worthy - on experience.

The limiting surface of one thing is the beginning of another.

Those who fall in love with practice without science are like a sailor who enters a ship without a helm or a compass, and who never can be certain whither he is going.

O painter, take care lest the greed for gain prove a stronger incentive than renown in art, for to gain this renown is a far greater thing than is the renown of riches.

Avoid studies of which the result dies with the worker.

A luminous body will appear more brilliant in proportion as it is surrounded by deeper shadow.

Nature is constrained by the cause of her laws which dwell inborn in her. Variant: Nature is constrained by the order of her own law which lives and works within her.

A natural action is accomplished in the briefest manner.

There is no object so large but that at a great distance from the eye it does not appear smaller than a smaller object near.

The spirit desires to remain with its body, because, without the organic instruments of that body, it can neither act, nor feel anything.

Sculptured figures which appear in motion, will, in their standing position, actually look as if they were falling forward.

Oh! how foul a thing, that we should see the tongue of one animal in the guts of another.

The Medici created and destroyed me.

The water which rises in the mountains is the blood which keeps the mountain in life.

Fire is to represent truth because it destroys all sophistry and lies; and the mask is for lying and falsehood which conceal truth.

Of the four elements water is the second in weight and the second in respect of mobility. It is never at rest until it unites with the sea.

I am not to blame for putting forward, in the course of my work on science, any general rule derived from a previous conclusion.

Fame alone raises herself to Heaven, because virtuous things are in favour with God.