Leonardo da Vinci
Ultimate Renaissance polymath, artist-engineer-scientist
Quotes by Leonardo da Vinci
The painter who draws merely by practice and by eye, without reason, is like a mirror which copies everything placed in front of it without understanding it.
Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.
The mind of man is capable of anything that can be imagined.
The eye, which is called the window of the soul, is the principal means by which the understanding can most completely and abundantly appreciate the infinite works of nature.
The greatest genius will ever be the most ready to learn, and the most averse to display his own abilities.
Just as a well-filled day brings blessed sleep, so a well-employed life brings a blessed death.
The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.
All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions.
Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most of it doesn't work. If it does work, you do more of it. If it doesn't work, you do something else.
The greatest pleasure and the greatest knowledge are produced by the greatest understanding.
The artist sees what others only catch a glimpse of.
The true artist is not one who is inspired, but one who inspires others.
Truth was the only daughter of time.
The eye, which is the window of the soul, is the chief organ whereby the understanding can have the most complete and magnificent view of the infinite works of nature.
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.
Mechanics is the paradise of the mathematical sciences, because by means of it one comes to the fruits of mathematics.
The engineer's mind is the bridge between imagination and reality.
The movement of the air against the wing, this is the secret of flight.
Obstacles do not break me; every obstacle melts before stern resolve.
The mind of the painter must be like a mirror, which always takes the colour of the object it reflects and is filled with as many images as there are objects placed before it.