"A bird is an instrument working according..." - Quote by 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, but not with a corresponding degree of strength, though it is deficient only in the power of maintaining equilibrium. We may therefore say that such an instrument constructed by man is lacking in nothing except the life of the bird, and this life must needs be supplied from that of man.
More by Leonardo Da Vinci
“What induces you, oh man, to depart from your home in town, to leave parents and friends, and go to the countryside over mountains and valleys, if it is not for the beauty of the world of nature?”
“Just as courage is the danger of life, so is fear its safeguard.”
“As every divided kingdom falls, so every mind divided between many studies confounds and saps itself.”
More on Flight
“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.”
“A bird maintains itself in the air by imperceptible balancing, when near to the mountains or lofty ocean crags; it does this by means of the curves of the winds which as they strike against these projections, being forced to preserve their first impetus bend their straight course towards the sky with divers revolutions, at the beginning of which the birds come to a stop with their wings open, receiving underneath themselves the continual buffetings of the reflex courses of the winds.”
“For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return.”
More on Engineering
“Engineering is not only study of 45 subjects but it is moral studies of intellectual life. Make things as simple as possible..but not simpler.”
“Problems in human engineering will receive during the coming years the same genius and attention which the nineteenth century gave to the more material forms of engineering.We have laid good foundations for industrial prosperity, now we want to assure the happiness and growth of the workers through vocational education, vocational guidance, and wisely managed employment departments. A great field for industrial experimentation and statemanship is opening up.”
“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.”