The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding.

If you throw a stone in a pond... the waves which strike against the shores are thrown back towards the spot where the stone struck; and on meeting other waves they never intercept each other's course... In a small pond one and the same stroke gives birth to many motions of advance and recoil.

For those colours which you wish to be beautiful, always first prepare a pure white ground.

To such an extent does nature delight and abound in variety that among her trees there is not one plant to be found which is exactly like another; and not only among the plants, but among the boughs, the leaves and the fruits, you will not find one which is exactly similar to another.

If you do not rest on the good foundation of nature, you will labour with little honor and less profit.

The boundaries of bodies are the least of all things.

You can have no dominion greater or less than that over yourself.