Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian polymath of the Renaissance whose areas of interest included painter, architect, inventor, and student of all things scientific. His natural genius crossed so many disciplines. Famous Leonardo da Vinci quotes will make you rethink, inspire growth in life and bring the best out of you.
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Best Leonardo da Vinci Quotes
Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen. ― Leonardo da Vinci
Learning never exhausts the mind. ― Leonardo da Vinci
A painter should begin every canvas with a wash of black, because all things in nature are dark except where exposed by the light. ― Leonardo da Vinci
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. ― Leonardo da Vinci
Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return. ― Leonardo da Vinci
Art is the queen of all sciences communicating knowledge to all the generations of the world. ― Leonardo da Vinci
Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.― Leonardo da Vinci
I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do. ― Leonardo da Vinci
It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things. ― Leonardo da Vinci
Art is never finished, only abandoned. ― Leonardo da Vinci
The painter has the Universe in his mind and hands. ― Leonardo da Vinci
While I thought that I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die. ― Leonardo da Vinci
Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence. ― Leonardo da Vinci
Life without love, is no life at all. ― Leonardo da Vinci
I love those who can smile in trouble…― Leonardo da Vinci
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. ― Leonardo da Vinci
I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men. ― Leonardo da Vinci
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. ― Leonardo da Vinci
One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself. ― Leonardo da Vinci
Tears come from the heart and not from the brain. ― Leonardo da Vinci
Nothing can be loved or hated unless it is first understood. ― Leonardo da Vinci
Inspirational Leonardo da Vinci Quotes About Life and Art
- The beginnings and ends of shadow lie between the light and darkness and may be infinitely diminished and infinitely increased. Shadow is the means by which bodies display their form. The forms of bodies could not be understood in detail but for shadow. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but they whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their principles unto death. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- As a well spent day brings happy sleep, so life well used brings happy death. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- The smallest feline is a masterpiece. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- If you are alone, you belong entirely to yourself. If you are accompanied by even one companion, you belong only half to yourself or even less in proportion to the thoughtlessness of his conduct and if you have more than one companion you will fall more deeply into the same plight. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- The knowledge of all things is possible. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- Fix your course to a star and you can navigate through any storm. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- And you who wish to represent by words the form of man and all the aspects of his membrification, relinquish that idea. For the more minutely you describe the more you will confine the mind of the reader, and the more you will keep him from the knowledge of the thing described. And so it is necessary to draw and to describe. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- Obstacles cannot crush me. Every obstacle yields to stern resolve. He who is fixed to a star does not change his mind. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- They will say that I, having no literary skill, cannot properly express that which I desire to treat of, but they do not know that my subjects are to be dealt with by experience rather than by words. And [experience] has been the mistress of those who wrote well. And so, as mistress, I will cite her in all cases. Though I may not, like them, be able to quote other authors, I shall rely on that which is much greater and more worthy: on experience, the mistress of their masters. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- The function of muscle is to pull and not to push, except in the case of the genitals and the tongue. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- Although nature commences with reason and ends in experience it is necessary for us to do the opposite, that is to commence with experience and from this to proceed to investigate the reason. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- Principles for the Development of a Complete Mind: Study the science of art. Study the art of science. Develop your senses- especially learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- It is as great an error to speak well of a worthless man as to speak ill of a good man. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- The painter who draws merely by practice and by eye, without any reason, is like a mirror which copies everything placed in front of it without being conscious of their existence. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- The deeper the feeling, the greater the pain. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- Those who fall in love with practice without science are like a sailor who enters a ship without a helm or a compass, and who never can be certain whither he is going. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- Lies don’t solve problems it just makes it worst …so liars beware. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- As you cannot do what you want, want what you can do. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- Poor is the pupil who does not surpass his master. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- I thought I was learning to live; I was only learning to die. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- The eye which turns from a white object in the light of the sun and goes into a less fully lighted place will see everything as dark. ― Leonardo da Vinci
Memorable Quotes By Leonardo da Vinci On Love, Simplicity, Knowledge And Beauty
- For nothing can be loved or hated unless it is first known. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- Iron rusts from disuse, stagnant water loses its purity, and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigors of the mind. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- How may paintings have preserved the image of a divine beauty which in its natural manifestation has been rapidly overtaken by time or death. Thus, the work of the painter is nobler than that of nature, its mistress. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- The artist sees what others only catch a glimpse of. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- Although a man be not a painter, he may have just opinions of the forms of men. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- The time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- Time stays long enough for anyone who will use it. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.― Leonardo da Vinci
- Time stays long enough for those who use it. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- Not to punish evil is equivalent to authorizing it. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- Intellectual passion drives out sensuality. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- The draperies that clothe figures must show that they are inhabited by these figures, enveloping them neatly to show the posture and motion of such figures, and avoiding the confusion of many folds, especially over the prominent parts, so that these may be evident. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- Realize that everything connects to everything else. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- I have offended God and mankind because my work didn’t reach the quality it should have. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- All our knowledge has its origin in our perceptions. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- Water is the driving force in nature. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- Make your work to be in keeping with your purpose. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- God sells us all things at the price of labor. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- All sciences are vain and full of errors that are not born of Experience, the mother of all knowledge. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- Our life is made by the death of others. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- He who thinks little errs much…― Leonardo da Vinci
- A poet knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes! ― Leonardo da Vinci
- He who wishes to be rich within a day, will be hanged within a year. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- He who possesses most must be most afraid of loss. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- My body will not be a tomb for other creatures. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- He who loves practice without theory is like the sailor who boards ship without a rudder and compass and never knows where he may cast. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- He who does not oppose evil… commands it to be done. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- 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. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- Learning is the only thing the mind never exhausts, never fears, and never regrets. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- Why does the eye see more clearly when asleep than the imagination when awake? ― Leonardo da Vinci
- I awoke only to find that the rest of the world was still asleep. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- The mind that engages in subjects of too great variety becomes confused and weakened. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- Marriage is like putting your hand into a bag of snakes in the hope of pulling out an eel. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- The acquisition of knowledge is always of use to the intellect, because it may thus drive out useless things and retain the good. For nothing can be loved or hated unless it is first known. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- Truth at last cannot be hidden. Dissimulation is of no avail. Dissimulation is to no purpose before so great a judge. Falsehood puts on a mask. Nothing is hidden under the sun. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- Anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to authority is not using his intelligence; he is just using his memory. ― Leonardo da Vinci
Famous Leonardo da Vinci Quotes to Unlock Your Power
- Many have made a trade of delusions and false miracles, deceiving the stupid multitudes. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- Details make perfection, and perfection is not a detail. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- As every divided kingdom falls, so every mind divided between many studies confounds and saps itself. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- Men of lofty genius when they are doing the least work are most active. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- The painter will produce pictures of little merit if he takes the works of others as his standard. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- Man has much power of discourse which for the most part is vain and false; animals have but little, but it is useful and true, and a small truth is better than a great lie. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- If you find from your own experience that something is a fact and it contradicts what some authority has written down, then you must abandon the authority and base your reasoning on your own findings. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- Truly man is the king of beasts, for his brutality exceeds them. We live by the death of others. We are burial places. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- Wisdom is the daughter of experience. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- The worst evil which can befall the artist is that his work should appear good in his own eyes. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- He who does not punish evil, commands it to be done. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- He who truly knows has no occasion to shout. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- He is a poor pupil who does not go beyond his master. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- We must doubt the certainty of everything which passes through the senses, but how much more ought we to doubt things contrary to the senses, such as the existence of God and the soul. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- Those who, in debate, appeal to their qualifications, argue from memory, not from understanding. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- What is fair in men, passes away, but not so in art.― Leonardo da Vinci
- Experience does not err; only your judgments err by expecting from her what is not in her power. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- A well-spent day brings happy sleep. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- He who can copy can do. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- A wave is never found alone, but is mingled with the other waves. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- The human bird shall take his first flight, filling the words with amazement, all writings with his fame, and bringing eternal glory to those whose nest whence he sprang. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- The eye sees a thing more clearly in dreams, than the imagination awakes. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- It is an acknowledged fact that we perceive errors in the work of others more readily than in our own. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- Just as a well-filled day brings blessed sleep, so a well-employed life brings a blessed death. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- The organ of perception acts more readily than judgment. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- If there’s no love, what then? ― Leonardo da Vinci
- The men of experiment are like the ant; they only collect and use. But the bee gathers its materials from the flowers of the garden and of the field, but transforms and digests it by a power of its own. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- The supreme misfortune is when theory outstrips performance. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- The water you touch in a river is the last of that which has passed, and the first of that which is coming. Thus it is with time present. Life, if well spent, is long.― Leonardo da Vinci
- Like a kingdom divided, which rushes to its doom, the mind that engages in subjects of too great variety becomes confused and weakened. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- As a well-spent day gives, joy in sleep so a well-spent life brings, joy in dying. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- In time and with water, everything changes. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- If the painter wishes to see beauties that charm him, it lies in his power to create them, and if he wishes to see monstrosities that are frightful, ridiculous, or truly pitiable, he is lord and God thereof. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- I abhor the supreme folly of those who blame the disciples of nature in defiance of those masters who were themselves her pupils. ― Leonardo da Vinci
- No one should ever imitate the style of another because, with regard to art, he will be called a nephew and not a child of nature.
- 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.
- Sculpture, a very noble art, is one that does not in the execution require the same supreme ingenuity as the art of painting, since in two most important and difficult particulars, in foreshortening and in light and shade… the painter has to invent a process, [whereas] sculpture is helped by nature.
- He who loves practice without theory is like the sailor who boards ship without a rudder and compass and never knows where he may cast.
- The vivacity and brightness of colors in a landscape will never bear any comparison with a landscape in nature when it is illumined by the sun, unless the painting is placed in such a position that it will receive the same light from the sun as does the landscape.
- Art is never finished, only abandoned.
- Surely when a man is painting a picture he ought not refuse to hear any man’s opinion… Since men are able to form a true judgement as to the works of nature, how much more does it behoove us to admit that they are able to judge our faults.
- Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else.
- Perspective is to painting what the bridle is to the horse, the rudder to a ship.
- A painter was asked why, since he made such beautiful figures, which were but dead things, his children were so ugly; to which the painter replied that he made his pictures by day, and his children by night.
- Art is the queen of all sciences communicating knowledge to all the generations of the world.
