You will never have a greater or lesser dominion than that over yourself...the height of a man's success is gauged by his self-mastery; the depth of his failure by his self-abandonment. ...And this law is the expression of eternal justice. He who cannot establish dominion over himself will have no dominion over others.
Leonardo da VinciBeing engulfed in practice without delicate knowledge related to it, is in many ways like entering a ship without knowing where it is headed.
Leonardo da VinciThe earth is moved from its position by the weight of a tiny bird resting upon it.
Leonardo da VinciThose who are enamoured of practice without science are like a pilot who goes into a ship without rudder or compass and never has any certainty of where he is going. Practice should always be based upon a sound knowledge of theory.
Leonardo da VinciLearning acquired in youth arrests the evil of old age; and if you understand that old age has wisdom for its food, you will so conduct yourself in youth that your old age will not lack for nourishment.
Leonardo da VinciMedicine is the restoration of discordant elements; sickness is the discord of the elements infused into the living body.
Leonardo da VinciNever make heads straight on the shoulders, but turn them aside to the right or to the left, even though they look down, or upward, or straight ahead, because it is necessary for them to look lively and awake and not asleep. And do not depict the front or rear half of the whole person so that too much straightness is displaced, one half above or below the other half; and if you should wish to use stiff figures, do so only in portraying old people.
Leonardo da VinciIf a man has a tent made of linen of which the apertures have all been stopped up, and be it twelve bracchia across (over twenty-five feet) and twelve in depth, he will be able to throw himself down from any height without sustaining injury. [His concept of the parachute.]
Leonardo da VinciFame alone raises herself to Heaven, because virtuous things are in favour with God.
Leonardo da VinciWhoever despises the high wisdom of mathematics nourishes himself on delusion and will never still the sophistic sciences whose only product is an eternal uproar.
Leonardo da VinciI love this site. It was lovingly hand-shaped it. Your soul transformed this into this art. It was perfect. I have tried to create another equal to it... but to no avail, so I will just have to paint the Sistine Chapel.
Leonardo da VinciDrawing is based upon perspective, which is nothing else than a thorough knowledge of the function of the eye.
Leonardo da VinciHe who wishes to see how the soul inhabits the body should look to see how that body uses its daily surroundings. If the dwelling is dirty and neglected, the body will be kept by its soul in the same condition, dirty and neglected.
Leonardo da VinciYou don't get into trouble because of the things you don't know. It is the things you don't know you don't know that really get you into a mess.
Leonardo da VinciEverything comes from everything, and everything is made out of everything, and everything returns into everything.
Leonardo da VinciIt is a far worthier thing to read by the light of experience than to adorn oneself with the labors of others.
Leonardo da VinciTrue and great love springs out of great knowledge, and where you know little you can love but little or not at all.
Leonardo da VinciWeight is caused by one element being situated in another; and it moves by the shortest line towards its centre, not by its own choice, not because the centre draws it to itself, but because the other intervening element cannot withstand it.
Leonardo da VinciKing of the animals — as thou hast described him — I should rather say king of the beasts, thou being the greatest — because thou hast spared slaying them, in order that they may give thee their children for the benefit of the gullet, of which thou hast attempted to make a sepulchre for all animals; and I would say still more, if it were allowed me to speak the entire truth.
Leonardo da VinciI roamed the countryside searching for the answers to things I did not understand. Why shells existed on the tops of mountains along with the imprints of coral and plant and seaweed usually found in the sea. Why the thunder lasts a longer time than that which causes it and why immediately on its creation the lightening becomes visible to the eye while thunder requires time to travel. How the various circles of water form around the spot which has been struck by a stone and why a bird sustains itself in the air. These questions and other strange phenomena engaged my thought throughout my life.
Leonardo da VinciOf several bodies, all equally large and equally distant, that which is most brightly illuminated will appear to the eye nearest and largest.
Leonardo da VinciEverything proceeds from everything else and everything becomes everything, and everything can be turned into everything else.
Leonardo da VinciIf you cause your ship to stop and place the head of a long tube in the water and place the outer extremity to your ear, you will hear ships at a great distance from you.
Leonardo da VinciThe mind that engages in subjects of too great variety becomes confused and weakened.
Leonardo da VinciI am never weary of being useful... In serving others I cannot do enough. No labor is sufficient to tire me.
Leonardo da VinciA luminous body will appear more brilliant in proportion as it is surrounded by deeper shadow.
Leonardo da VinciThose who condemn the supreme certainty of mathematics feed on confusion, and can never silence the contradictions of the sophistical sciences which lead to eternal quackery.
Leonardo da VinciA man of supreme folly: his life flies away while he is merely hoping to enjoy it.
Leonardo da Vinci