Quotes from Leonardo da Vinci

The knowledge of all things is possible

The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions.

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

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.

I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.

It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.

The deeper the feeling, the greater the pain

The function of muscle is to pull and not to push, except in the case of the genitals and the tongue.

As you cannot do what you want, Want what you can do

I thought I was learning to live; I was only learning to die.

Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen.

Time abides long enough for those who make use of it.

The divisions of Perspective are 3, as used in drawing; of these, the first includes the diminution in size of opaque objects; the second treats of the diminution and loss of outline in such opaque objects; the third, of the diminution and loss of colour at long distances.

Let no man who is not a Mathematician read the elements of my work.

Such is the supreme folly of man that he labours so as to labour no more.

People of higher talent work, even if they seem to do nothing

It vexes me greatly that having to earn my living has forced me to interrupt the work and to attend to small matters.

The eye, the window of the soul, is the chief means whereby the understanding can most fully and abundantly appreciate the infinite works of Nature; and the ear is second.

Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence.

The painter has the Universe in his mind and hands.

Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.

The human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art.

What is fair in men, passes away, but not so in art

The painter will produce pictures of little merit if he takes the works of others as his standard.