Leonardo da Vinci Quotes And Sayings

As Every Divided Kingdom Falls, So Every Mind Divided Between Many Studies Confounds And Saps Itself.

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 Length Of A Man's Outspread Arms Is Equal To His Height.

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.

The Divisions Of Perspective Are 3, As Used In Drawing; Of These, The First Includes The Diminution In Size Of Opaque Objects; The Second Treats Of The Diminution And Loss Of Outline In Such Opaque Objects; The Third, Of The Diminution And Loss Of Colour At Long Distances.

Learning Never Exhausts The Mind.

The Medici Created And Destroyed Me.

Nature Is The Source Of All True Knowledge. She Has Her Own Logic, Her Own Laws, She Has No Effect Without Cause Nor Invention Without Necessity.

Many Are They Who Have A Taste And Love For Drawing, But No Talent; And This Will Be Discernible In Boys Who Are Not Diligent And Never Finish Their Drawings With Shading.

In Order To Arrive At Knowledge Of The Motions Of Birds In The Air, It Is First Necessary To Acquire Knowledge Of The Winds, Which We Will Prove By The Motions Of Water In Itself, And This Knowledge Will Be A Step Enabling Us To Arrive At The Knowledge Of Beings That Fly Between The Air And The Wind.

Just As Courage Is The Danger Of Life, So Is Fear Its Safeguard.

I Have Always Felt It Is My Destiny To Build A Machine That Would Allow Man To Fly.

Knowledge Of The Past And Of The Places Of The Earth Is The Ornament And Food Of The Mind Of Man.

For, Verily, Great Love Springs From Great Knowledge Of The Beloved Object, And If You Little Know It, You Will Be Able To Love It Only Little Or Not At All.

Just As Food Eaten Without Appetite Is A Tedious Nourishment, So Does Study Without Zeal Damage The Memory By Not Assimilating What It Absorbs.

Why Does The Eye See A Thing More Clearly In Dreams Than The Imagination When Awake?

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.

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.

It Seems That It Had Been Destined Before That I Should Occupy Myself So Thoroughly With The Vulture, For It Comes To My Mind As A Very Early Memory, When I Was Still In The Cradle, A Vulture Came Down To Me, He Opened My Mouth With His Tail And Struck Me A Few Times With His Tail Against My Lips.

There Are Four Powers: Memory And Intellect, Desire And Covetousness. The Two First Are Mental And The Others Sensual. The Three Senses: Sight, Hearing And Smell Cannot Well Be Prevented; Touch And Taste Not At All.

Every Action Needs To Be Prompted By A Motive.

All Our Knowledge Has Its Origins In Our Perceptions.

Experience Never Errs; It Is Only Your Judgments That Err By Promising Themselves Effects Such As Are Not Caused By Your Experiments.

Weight, Force And Casual Impulse, Together With Resistance, Are The Four External Powers In Which All The Visible Actions Of Mortals Have Their Being And Their End.

Experience Does Not Err. Only Your Judgments Err By Expecting From Her What Is Not In Her Power.

Life Well Spent Is Long.

I Have Wasted My Hours.

The Function Of Muscle Is To Pull And Not To Push, Except In The Case Of The Genitals And The Tongue.

Nature Never Breaks Her Own Laws.

The Greatest Deception Men Suffer Is From Their Own Opinions.

Our Body Is Dependant On Heaven And Heaven On The Spirit.

Just As Courage Imperils Life, Fear Protects It.

Necessity Is The Mistress And Guide Of Nature. Necessity Is The Theme And Inventress Of Nature, Her Curb And Her Eternal Law.

The Spirit Desires To Remain With Its Body, Because, Without The Organic Instruments Of That Body, It Can Neither Act, Nor Feel Anything.

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.

It Is Better To Imitate Ancient Than Modern Work.

Each Man Is Always In The Middle Of The Surface Of The Earth And Under The Zenith Of His Own Hemisphere, And Over The Centre Of The Earth.

How Many Emperors And How Many Princes Have Lived And Died And No Record Of Them Remains, And They Only Sought To Gain Dominions And Riches In Order That Their Fame Might Be Ever-lasting.

The Truth Of Things Is The Chief Nutriment Of Superior Intellects.

The Noblest Pleasure Is The Joy Of Understanding.

The Painter Who Is Familiar With The Nature Of The Sinews, Muscles, And Tendons, Will Know Very Well, In Giving Movement To A Limb, How Many And Which Sinews Cause It; And Which Muscle, By Swelling, Causes The Contraction Of That Sinew; And Which Sinews, Expanded Into The Thinnest Cartilage, Surround And Support The Said Muscle.

The Senses Are Of The Earth, The Reason Stands Apart From Them In Contemplation.