Leonardo da Vinci Quotes

“The poet ranks far below the painter in the representation of visible things, and far below the musician in that of invisible things.”

“A beautiful body perishes, but a work of art dies not.”

“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 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.”

“Shadow is the means by which bodies display their form. The forms of bodies could not be understood in detail but for shadow.”

“Poor is the pupil who does not surpass his master.”

“Men of lofty genius sometimes accomplish the most when they work least, for their minds are occupied with their ideas and the perfection of their conceptions, to which they afterwards give form.”

“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.”

“There are three classes of people: those who see, those who see when they are shown, those who do not see.”

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

“The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions.”

“Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O wretched mortals, open your eyes!”

“Where there is shouting, there is no true knowledge.”

“You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand.”

“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.”

“Tears come from the heart and not from the brain.”

“You can have no dominion greater or less than that over yourself.”

“It's easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.”

“Just as courage imperils life, fear protects it.”

“He who is fixed to a star does not change his mind.”

“Obstacles cannot crush me; every obstacle yields to stern resolve.”

“Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence.”

“Who sows virtue reaps honour.”

“He who wishes to be rich in a day will be hanged in a year.”

“Tell me if anything was ever done.”