Leonardo da Vinci quotes - page 7

Just as eating against one's will is injurious to health, so studying without a liking for it spoils the memory, and it retains nothing it takes in. (Leonardo da Vinci)
Who sows virtue ought to reap honour. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
Feathers shall raise men even as they do birds towards heaven :- That is by letters written with their quills. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
Just as iron rusts from disuse, and stagnant water putrefies, or when cold turns to ice, so our intellect wastes unless it is kept in use. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
A single and distinct luminous body causes stronger relief in the objects than a diffused light; as may be seen by comparing one side of a landscape illuminated by the sun, and one overshadowed by clouds, and illuminated only by the diffused light of the atmosphere. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
The eye - which sees all objects reversed - retains the images for some time. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
I woke up only to find the rest of the world asleep. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
A well-spent day brings happy sleep. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
Having wandered some distance among gloomy rocks, I came to the entrance of a great cavern ... Two contrary emotions arose in me: fear and desire--fear of the threatening dark cavern, desire to see whether there were any marvelous things in it. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
I ask how far away the eye can discern a non-luminous body, as, for instance, a mountain. It will be very plainly visible if the sun is behind it; and could be seen at a greater or less distance according to the sun's place in the sky. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
Men will deal rude blows to that which is the cause of their life:-They will thrash the grain. (Leonardo da Vinci)
If the Lord - who is the light of all things - vouchsafe to enlighten me, I will treat of Light; wherefore I will divide the present work into 3 Parts... Linear Perspective, The Perspective of Colour, The Perspective of Disappearance. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
Surely when a man is painting a picture he ought not refuse to hear any man's opinion... Since men are able to form a true judgement as to the works of nature, how much more does it behoove us to admit that they are able to judge our faults. Therefore you should be desirous of hearing patiently the opinions of others, and consider and reflect carefully whether or no he who censures you has reason for his censure; and correct your work if you find that he is right, but if not, then let it seem that you have not understood him, or, in case he is a man whom you esteem, show him by argument why it is that he is mistaken. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
If you meet with any one who is virtuous do not drive him from you; do him honour, so that he may not have to flee from you and be reduced to hiding in hermitages, or caves or other solitary places to escape from your treachery; if there is such an one among you do him honour, for these are our Saints upon earth; these are they who deserve statues from us, and images... View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
To preserve Nature's chiefest boon, that is freedom, I can find means of offence and defence, when it is assailed by ambitious tyrants, and first I will speak of the situation of the walls, and also I shall show how communities can maintain their good and just Lords. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
The wind which passes through the skins of animals will make men leap up:-That is the bagpipes, which cause men to dance. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
Learning is the only thing the mind never exhausts, never fears, and never regrets. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
average human "looks without seeing, listens without hearing, touches without feeling, eats without tasting, moves without physical awareness, inhales without awareness of odour or fragrance, and talks without thinking. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
The false interpreters of nature declare that quicksilver is the common seed of every metal, not remembering that nature varies the seed according to the variety of the things she desires to produce in the world. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
He who truly knows has no occasion to shout. (Leonardo da Vinci)
A painter should begin every canvas with a wash of black, because all things in nature are dark except where exposed by the light. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
The painter has the Universe in his mind and hands. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci
That which has no limitations, has no form. The limitations of two conterminous bodies are interchangeably the surface of each. All the surfaces of a body are not parts of that body. View quote
Leonardo da Vinci