Quotes from Leonardo da Vinci

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication

reality the fancy of his dreams, and give outward expression to the ideal within.

O Time, consumer of all things! O envious age, thou destroyest all things and devourest all things with the hard teeth of the years little by little, in slow death. Helen, when she looked in her mirror and saw the withered wrinkles which old age had made in her face wept and wondered why she had twice been carried away.

Quelli che s'innamorano della pratica senza la scienza, sono come i nocchieri che entrano in naviglio senza timone o bussola, che mai hanno certezza dove si vadano. Sempre la pratica dev'essere edificata sopra la buona teorica, della quale la prospettiva è guida e porta, e senza questa nulla si fa bene.

Nature is full of infinite reasons which have not yet passed into experience. He conceived it to be the painter's duty not only to comment on natural phenomena as restrained by law, but to merge his very mind into that of nature by interpreting its relation with art.

Although attempting to bridge the gulf which separated the real from the unreal, he refused to treat the latter supernaturally. That mystery which lesser minds found in the occult, he saw in nature all about him. He denied the existence of spirits, just as he urged the foolishness of the will-o'-the-wisps of former ages,—alchemy and the black art.

The search for truth and the desire for beauty were the twin ideals he strove to attain. The keenness of this pursuit saved him from the blemish of egoism which aloofness from his surroundings would otherwise have forced upon him.

But the noblest painters,—Michelangelo and Raphael, Titian and Leonardo,—in addition to possessing the solid grasp of technical mastery, reflected some aspect of their nation's life and civilization.

In Michelangelo was realized the grandeur of Italy struggling vainly against crushing oppression. He expressed that which was highest in it, reflecting the loftiest side of its idealism mingled with deep pessimism in his survey over life; for, wrapped in austerity, he saw mankind in heroic terms of sadness.

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Raphael, on the other hand, found only beautiful sweetness everywhere. The tragedies of life failed to touch the young painter, who blotted from view all struggle and sorrow, and, in spite of the misery which had befallen his nation, could still rejoice in the sensuous beauty of the world. There was another side to the Renaissance, dependent neither on beauty nor heroic grandeur, yet sharing in both through qualities of its own.

Titian, who painted the living man of action, the man of parts, susceptible alike to the appreciation of ideal beauty and heroic impulse, but guided withal by expediency, reflected this more practical aspect of life. In his portraiture he expressed the statecraft for which Italians found opportunity beyond the Alps, since in Italy it was denied them; and Titian found even Venice too narrow for the scope of his art.

In the days of thy youth seek to obtain that which shall compensate the losses of thy old age. And if thou understandest that old age is fed with wisdom, so conduct thyself in the days of thy youth that sustenance may not be lacking to thy old age.

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.

He who in reasoning cites authority is making use of his memory rather than of his intellect.

Qui non estima la vita non la merita.

Colui che più possiede, è colui che più ha paura di perdere.

For I know that there are numberless people who, in order to gratify one of their appetites, would destroy God and the whole of the universe. If this art has never remained among men, although so necessary to them, it never existed, and never will exist.

Întrucât nu poÈ›i face ce doreÅŸti, doreÅŸte-È›i ceea ce poÈ›i face.

As a well-spent day brings a happy sleep, so a well-employed life brings a happy death.

Learning never exhaust the mind

Chi semina virtù fama raccoglie.

Oricine îÅŸi susÈ›ine un argument prin apelarea la o autoritate nu îÅŸi foloseÅŸte inteligenÈ›a; el îÅŸi utilizeaz? doar memoria.

The greatest deception men [and women] suffer is from their own OPINION.