The painter who draws merely by practice and by eye, without any reason, is like a mirror which copies every thing placed in front of it without being conscious of their existence.
Leonardo da VinciOne has no right to love or hate anything if one has not acquired a thorough knowledge of its nature. Great love springs from great knowledge of the beloved object, and if you know it but little you will be able to love it only a little or not at all.
Leonardo da VinciExperience does not err. Only your judgments err by expecting from her what is not in her power.
Leonardo da VinciHe 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 VinciO time, swift robber of all created things, how many kings, how many nations hast thou undone, and how many changes of states and of various events have happened since the wondrous forms of this fish perished here in this cavernous and winding recess. Now destroyed by time thou liest patiently in this confined space with bones stripped and bare; serving as a support and prop for the superimposed mountain.
Leonardo da Vinci