Leonardo da Vinci Quotes

“Nothing is hidden under the sun.”

“I have wasted my hours.”

“The limiting surface of one thing is the beginning of another.”

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

“You don't get into trouble because of the things you don't know. It is the things you don't know you don't know that really get you into a mess.”

“Just as iron which is not used grows rusty, and water putrefies and freezes in the cold, so the mind of which no use is made is spoilt.”

“In her (nature's) inventions nothing is lacking and nothing is superfluous.”

“Science is the observation of things possible, whether present or past; prescience is the knowledge of things which may come to pass, though but slowly.”

“Intellectual passion drives out sensuality.”

“While I thought that I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die.”

“An artist who lacks the power of self-criticism accomplishes but little. It is good if your work stands higher than your own opinion of it; bad if it is on the same level. But it is a great disaster if your work stands lower than your judgment of it.”

“Men of lofty genius when they are doing the least work are most active.”

“You grow in reputation like bread in the hands of a child.”

“He who thinks little errs much.”

“When you are alone you are all your own.”

“The truth of things is the chief nutriment of superior intellects.”

“Of the horse I will say nothing because I know the times.”

“Old age takes in part savoury wisdom for its food - see to that your old age will not lack in nourishment.”

“I have been impressed with the urgency of doing.”

“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.”

“... we might say that the earth has a spirit of growth; that its flesh is the soil, its bones the arrangement and connection of the rocks of which the mountains are composed, its cartilage the tufa, and its blood the springs of water.”

“The senses are of the earth, the reason stands apart from them in contemplation.”

“I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.”

“The earth is moved from its position by the weight of a tiny bird resting upon it.”

“Anyone who invokes authors in discussion is not using his intelligence but his memory.”