Leonardo da Vinci quotes - page 12

When you have drawn the same thing so many times that it seems that you know it by heart try to do it without the model; but having a tracing made of the model upon a thin piece of smooth glass and lay this upon the drawing you have made without the model. ...where you find that you have erred bear it in mind in order not to make the mistake again. ...if you cannot procure smooth glass to make a tracing... take a piece of very fine parchment well oiled and then dried, and when you have used it for for one drawing you can wipe this out with a sponge and do a second. (Leonardo da Vinci)
I know that many will call this useless work. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
A dark object seen against a bright background will appear smaller than it is. A light object will look larger when it is seen against a background darker than itself. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
Tell me if anything was ever done. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
Represent your figures in such action as may be fitted to express what purpose is in the mind of each; otherwise your art will not be admirable. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
That part of the air which is nearest to the wing which presses on it, will have the greatest density. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
The East will be seen to rush to the West and the South to the North in confusion round and about the universe, with great noise and trembling or fury. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
Such as harm is when it hurts me not, is good which avails me not. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
Any one who in discussion relies upon authority uses, not his understanding, but rather his memory. Good culture is born of a good disposition; and since the cause is more to be praised than the effect, I will rather praise a good disposition without culture, than good culture without the disposition. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
One who by himself is mild enough and void of all offence will become terrible and fierce by being in bad company, and will most cruelly take the life of many men, and would kill many more if they were not hindered by bodies having no soul, that have come out of caverns - that is, breastplates of iron. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
Oh! human stupidity, do you not perceive that, though you have been with yourself all your life, you are not yet aware of the thing you possess most of, that is of your folly? and then, with the crowd of sophists, you deceive yourselves and others, despising the mathematical sciences, in which truth dwells and the knowledge of the things included in them. And then you occupy yourself with miracles, and write that you possess information of those things of which the human mind is incapable and which cannot be proved by any instance from nature. And you fancy you have wrought miracles when you spoil a work of some speculative mind, and do not perceive that you are falling into the same error as that of a man who strips a tree of the ornament of its branches covered with leaves mingled with the scented blossoms or fruit. (Leonardo da Vinci)
It is bad if you praise, and worse if you reprove a thing, I mean, if you do not understand the matter well. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
The function which the wing performs against the air when the air is motionless is the same as that of the air moved against the wings when these are without motion. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
Take a piece of glass of the size of a half sheet of royal folio paper, and fix it... between your eye and the object you wish to portray. Then move it away until your eye is two-thirds of a braccio away from the piece of glass, and fasten your head by means of an instrument in such a way as to prevent any movement of it whatsoever. Then close or cover up one eye, and with a brush or a piece of red chalk finely ground mark out on the glass what is visible beyond it; afterwards, copy it by tracing on paper from the glass, then prick it out upon paper of a better quality and paint it if you so desire, paying special attention to the aerial perspective. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
No small hole can so modify the convergence of rays of light as to prevent, at a long distance, the transmission of the true form of the luminous body causing them. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
Reserve the great matters till the end, and the small matters give at the beginning. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
Remember that your bird should have no other model than the bat, because its membranes serve as an armour or rather as a means of building together the pieces of its armour, that is the framework of the wings. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
You will perhaps say that the sinews and muscles of a bird are incomparably more powerful than those of a man... But the reply to this is that such great strength gives it a reserve of power beyond what it ordinarily uses... View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
If you condemn painting, which is the only imitator of all visible works of nature, you will certainly despise a subtle invention which brings philosophy and subtle speculation to the consideration of the nature of all forms - seas and plains, trees, animals, plants and flowers - which are surrounded by shade and light. And this is true knowledge and the legitimate issue of nature; for painting is born of nature - or, to speak more correctly, we will say it is the grandchild of nature; for all visible things are produced by nature, and these her children have given birth to painting. Hence we may justly call it the grandchild of nature and related to God. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
The unicorn, through its intemperance and not knowing how to control itself, for the love it bears to fair maidens forgets its ferocity and wildness; and laying aside all fear it will go up to a seated damsel and go to sleep in her lap, and thus the hunters take it. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
Among all the studies of natural causes and reasons Light chiefly delights the beholder; and among the great features of Mathematics the certainty of its demonstrations is what preeminently (tends to) elevate the mind of the investigator. Perspective, therefore, must be preferred to all the discourses and systems of human learning. In this branch [of science] the beam of light is explained on those methods of demonstration which form the glory not so much of Mathematics as of Physics and are graced with the flowers of both. (Leonardo da Vinci)
When you represent in your work shadows which you can only discern with difficulty, and of which you cannot distinguish the edges so that you apprehend them confusedly, you must not make them sharp or definite lest your work should have a wooden effect. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
Wine is good, but water is preferable at table. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
Movement will cease before we are weary of being useful. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
These rules will enable you to have a free and sound judgment; since good judgment is born of clear understanding, and a clear understanding comes of reasons derived from sound rules, and sound rules are the issue of sound experience - the common mother of all the sciences and arts. Hence, bearing in mind the precepts of my rules, you will be able, merely by your amended judgment, to criticise and recognise every thing that is out of proportion in a work, whether in the perspective or in the figures or any thing else. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci