Leonardo Da Vinci Quotes & Sayings
Enjoy the top 100 famous quotes, sayings and quotations by Leonardo Da Vinci.
Famous Quotes By Leonardo Da Vinci
Nature appears to have been the cruel stepmother rather than the mother of many animals. — Leonardo Da Vinci
My works are the issue of simple and plain experience which is the true mistress. — Leonardo Da Vinci
After painting comes Sculpture, a very noble art, but one that does not in the execution require the same supreme ingenuity as the art of painting, since in two most important and difficult particulars, in foreshortening and in light and shade, for which the painter has to invent a process, sculpture is helped by nature. Moreover, Sculpture does not imitate color which the painter takes pains to attune so that the shadows accompany the lights. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Shadows which you see with difficulty, and whose boundaries you cannot define ... these you should not represent as finished or sharply defined, for the result would be that your work would seem wooden. — Leonardo Da Vinci
A deaf and dumb person who sees two men in conversation - may nevertheless understand from the attitudes and gestures of the speakers, how well their discussion is getting along. — Leonardo Da Vinci
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. — Leonardo Da Vinci
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. — Leonardo Da Vinci
The art of procreation and the members employed therein are so repulsive, that if it were not for the beauty of the faces and the adornments of the actors and the pent-up impulse, nature would lose the human species. — Leonardo Da Vinci
The water which rises in the mountain is the blood which keeps the mountain in life. — Leonardo Da Vinci
There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Iron rusts from disuse, stagnant water loses its purity, and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigors of the mind. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Be eager to lend a patient ear to the opinions of others and think long and hard whether whoever finds fault has reason or not to censure you. And if the answer is yes, correct the fault. If no, give the impression that you have not heard him, or if he is a man whom you respect, explain to him why he is mistaken. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Study me, reader, if you delight in me, because on very few occasions shall I return to the world, and because the patience for this profession is found in very few, and only in those who wish to compose things anew. Come, oh men, to see the miracles that such studies will disclose to nature. — Leonardo Da Vinci
To any white body receiving the light from the sun, or the air, the shadows will be of a bluish cast. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Although the poet has as wide a choice of subjects as the painter, his creations fail to afford as much satisfaction to mankind as do paintings ... if the poet serves the understanding by way of the ear, the painter does so by the eye, which is the nobler sense. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Fire destroys all sophistry, that is deceit; and maintains truth alone, that is gold. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Let the painter composing narrative pictures take pleasure in wealth and variety, and avoid repeating any part that occurs in it, so that the uniqueness and abundance attract people to it and delight the eye of the observer. I say that a narrative painting requires (depending on the scene), wherever the eye falls, a mixture of men of diverse appearances, of diverse ages and dress, combined together with women, children, dogs, horses, buildings, fields, and hills. — Leonardo Da Vinci
The mind of the painter must resemble a mirror, which always takes the colour of the object it reflects and is completely occupied by the images of as many objects as are in front of it. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Principles for the Development of a Complete Mind: Study the science of art. Study the art of science. Develop your senses- especially learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Very great charm of shadow and light is to be found in the faces of those who sit in the doors of dark houses. The eye of the spectator sees that part of the face which is in shadow lost in the darkness of the house, and that part of the face which is lit draws its brilliancy from the splendour of the sky. From this intensification of light and shade the face gains greatly in relief and beauty by showing the subtlest shadows in the light part and the subtlest lights in the dark part. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Love, Fear, and Esteem, - Write these on three stones. — Leonardo Da Vinci
An arch consists of two weaknesses which, leaning one against the other, make a strength. — Leonardo Da Vinci
An artist's studio should be a small space because small rooms discipline the mind and large ones distract it. — Leonardo Da Vinci
We are deceived by promises and time disappoints us ... — Leonardo Da Vinci
He who truly knows has no occasion to shout. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Putting your hand into a river, you simultaneously touch the last of what is passing and the first of what is coming. — Leonardo Da Vinci
The cat is nature's masterpiece. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Just as courage imperils life, fear protects it. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Science is the captain, and practice the soldiers. — Leonardo Da Vinci
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. — Leonardo Da Vinci
While human ingenuity may devise various inventions to the same ends, it will never devise anything more beautiful, nor more simple, nor more to the purpose than nature does, because in her inventions nothing is lacking and nothing is superfluous. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Truly man is the king of beasts, for his brutality exceeds them. We live by the death of others. We are burial places. — Leonardo Da Vinci
When counting, try not to mix chickens with blessings. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Although nature commences with reason and ends in experience it is necessary for us to do the opposite, that is to commence with experience and from this to proceed to investigate the reason. — Leonardo Da Vinci
It is useful to constantly observe, note, and consider. — Leonardo Da Vinci
A man of supreme folly: his life flies away while he is merely hoping to enjoy it. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Men of lofty genius when they are doing the least work are most active. — Leonardo Da Vinci
I have always felt it is my destiny to build a machine that would allow man to fly. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Necessity is a guardian in Nature. — Leonardo Da Vinci
In an atmosphere of uniform density the most distant things seen through it, such as the mountains, in consequence of the great quantity of atmosphere which is between your eye and them, will appear blue. Therefore you should make the building ... wall which is more distant less defined and bluer ... five times as far away, make five times as blue. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Those who are in love with practice without knowledge are like the sailor who gets into a ship without rudder or compass and who never can be certain whether he is going. Practice must always be founded on sound theory, and to this Perspective is the guide and the gateway; and without this nothing can be done well in the matter of drawing. — Leonardo Da Vinci
That painter who has no doubts will achieve little. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Demetrius was wont to say that there was no difference between the words and speech of the unskilled and ignorant and the sounds and rumblings caused by the stomach being full of superfluous wind. This he said, not without reason, for, as he held, it did not in the least matter from what part of them the voice emanated, whether from the lower parts or the mouth, since the one and the other were of equal worth and importance. — Leonardo Da Vinci
The soul is content to stay imprisoned in the human body ... for through the eyes all the various things of nature are represented to the soul. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Make an effort to collect the good features from many beautiful faces. — Leonardo Da Vinci
The painter who draws merely by practice and by eye, without any reason, is like a mirror which copies every thing placed in front of it without being conscious of their existence. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Those who, in debate, appeal to their qualifications, argue from memory, not from understanding. — Leonardo Da Vinci
The moment is timeless. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Nature is so delightful and abundant in its variations that there would not be one that resembles another, and not only plants as a whole, but among their branches, leaves and fruit, will not be found one which is precisely like another. — Leonardo Da Vinci
The spirit desires to remain with its body, because, without the organic instruments of that body, it can neither act, nor feel anything. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Poor is the pupil who does not surpass his master. — Leonardo Da Vinci
I'm not contented to capture the world. I want to change it. — Leonardo Da Vinci
It is no small benefit on finding oneself in bed in the dark to go over again in the imagination the main lines of the forms previously studied, or other noteworthy things conceived by ingenious speculation. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Experiment is the sole interpreter of the artifices of Nature. — Leonardo Da Vinci
I say that the power of vision extends through the visual rays to the surface of non-transparent bodies, while the power possessed by these bodies extends to the power of vision. — Leonardo Da Vinci
The human bird shall take his first flight, filling the world with amazement, all writings with his fame, and bringing eternal glory to the nest whence he sprang. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Lies don't solve problems it just make it worst ... so liars beware — Leonardo Da Vinci
He who in reasoning cites authority is making use of his memory rather than of his intellect. — Leonardo Da Vinci
A life well used procures a happy death. — Leonardo Da Vinci
The eye - which sees all objects reversed - retains the images for some time. — Leonardo Da Vinci
A bird is an instrument working according to mathematical law, which instrument it is within the capacity of man to reproduce with all its movements. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Most people, if you give them a book, they sniff around on it awhile, then try to eat it. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Medicine is the restoration of discordant elements; sickness is the discord of the elements infused into the living body. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Nothing is more apt to deceive us than our own judgment of our work. We derive more benefit from having our faults pointed out by our enemies than from hearing the opinions of friends. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Drawing is based upon perspective, which is nothing else than a thorough knowledge of the function of the eye. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Let proportion be found not only in numbers and measures, but also in sounds, weights, times, and positions, and what ever force there is. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Now do you not see that the eye embraces the beauty of the whole world? It counsels and corrects all the arts of mankind ... it is the prince of mathematics, and the sciences founded on it are absolutely certain. It has measured the distances and sizes of the stars it has discovered the elements and their location ... it has given birth to architecture and to perspective and to the divine art of painting. — Leonardo Da Vinci
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 ... — Leonardo Da Vinci
Those who become enamoured of the art, without having previously applied to the diligent study of the scientific part of it, may be compared to mariners who put to the sea in a ship without rudder or compass and therefore cannot be certain of arriving at the wished for port. — Leonardo Da Vinci
The poet ranks far below the painter in the representation of visible things, and far below the musician in that of invisible things. — Leonardo Da Vinci
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. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Although human ingenuity may devise various inventions which, by the help of various instruments, answer to one and the same purpose, yet will it never discover any inventions more beautiful, more simple or more practical than those of nature, because in her inventions there is nothing lacking and nothing superfluous; and she makes use of no counterpoise when she constructs the limbs of animals in such a way as to correspond to the motion of their bodies, but she puts into them the soul of the body. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Why does the eye see more clearly when asleep than the imagination when awake? — Leonardo Da Vinci
Experience is never at fault; it is only your judgment that is in error, in promising itself such results from experience as are not caused by our experiments. For having given a beginning, what follows from it must necessarily be a natural development of such a beginning, unless it has been subject to a contrary influence, while, if it is affected by any contrary influence, the result which ought to follow from the aforesaid beginning, will be found to partake of this contrary influence in a greater or lesser degree in proportion as the said influence is more or less powerful than the aforesaid beginning. — Leonardo Da Vinci
I have found that, in the composition of the human body as compared with the bodies of animals, the organs of sense are duller and coarser. Thus, it is composed of less ingenious instruments, and of spaces less capacious for receiving the faculties of sense. — Leonardo Da Vinci
A long life is a life well spent. — Leonardo Da Vinci
The sun gives spirit and life to the plants and the earth nourishes them with moisture. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Nature varies the seed according to the variety of the things she desires to produce in the world. — Leonardo Da Vinci
I am not poor. Poor are those who desire many things. — Leonardo Da Vinci
People talk to people who perceive nothing, who have open eyes and see nothing; they shall talk to them and receive no answer; they shall adore those who have ears and hear nothing; they shall burn lamps for those who do not see. — Leonardo Da Vinci
If you are representing a white body let it be surrounded by ample space, because as white has no colour of its own, it is tinged and altered in some degree by the colour of the objects surrounding it — Leonardo Da Vinci
He who possesses most must be most afraid of loss. — Leonardo Da Vinci
The motive power is the cause of all life. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Though I may not ... be able to quote other authors, I shall rely on that which is much greater and more worthy - on experience. — Leonardo Da Vinci
He only moves toward the perfection of his art whose criticism surpasses his achievement. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Who would believe that so small a space could contain the images of all the universe? — Leonardo Da Vinci
O Lord, thou givest us everything, at the price of an effort. — Leonardo Da Vinci