Leonardo da Vinci Quotes

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.

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.

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.

Time abides long enough for those who make use of it.

In rivers, the water that you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes; so with present time.

Just as courage is the danger of life, so is fear its safeguard.

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.

It is better to imitate ancient than modern work.

Knowledge of the past and of the places of the earth is the ornament and food of the mind of man.

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.

Science is the captain, and practice the soldiers.

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.

Your brain is much better than you think; just use it!

The most beautiful words of love are told in silence for a look.

Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.

Anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to authority is not using his intelligence; he is just using his memory.

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.