simplicity is the best sophistication

One can have no more mastery over the environment, than one has over himself.

O 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.

The discovery of a good wine is increasingly better for mankind than the discovery of a new star.

The young man should first learn perspective, then the proportions of objects. Next, copy work after the hand of a good master, to gain the habit of drawing parts of the body well; and then to work from nature, to confirm the lessons learned.

Necessity is a guardian in Nature.

When you put your hand in a flowing stream, you touch the last that has gone before and the first of what is still to come.