The Best Da Vinci quotes

The greatest geniuses sometimes accomplish more when they work less. — Leonardo Da Vinci

I wish to work miracles. — Leonardo Da Vinci

It is better to imitate ancient than modern work. — Leonardo Da Vinci

We know well that mistakes are more easily detected in the works of others than in one’s own. — Leonardo Da Vinci

It is an acknowledged fact that we perceive errors in the work of others more readily than in our own. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer. — Leonardo Da Vinci

I have offended God and mankind because my work didn’t reach the quality it should have. — Leonardo Da Vinci

My works are the issue of simple and plain experience which is the true mistress. — Leonardo Da Vinci

The human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art. — Leonardo Da Vinci

A beautiful body perishes, but a work of art dies not. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Men of lofty genius when they are doing the least work are most active. — Leonardo Da Vinci

The worst evil which can befall the artist is that his work should appear good in his own eyes. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art. — Leonardo Da Vinci

How painting surpasses all human works by reason of the subtle possibilities which it contains. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Men of genius sometimes accomplish most when they work least, for they are thinking out inventions. — Leonardo Da Vinci

If on your own or by the criticism of others you discover error in your work, correct it then and there; otherwise in exposing your work to the public, you will expose your error also. — Leonardo Da Vinci

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

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

I am not to blame for putting forward, in the course of my work on science, any general rule derived from a previous conclusion. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Happy will be those who give ear to the words of the dead:–The reading of good works and the observing of their precepts. — Leonardo Da Vinci

The boundaries of bodies are the least of all things. — Leonardo Da Vinci

My body will not be a tomb for other creatures. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Our body is dependent on heaven and heaven on the Spirit. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Of several bodies, all equally large and equally distant, that which is most brightly illuminated will appear to the eye nearest and largest. — Leonardo Da Vinci

A luminous body will appear more brilliant in proportion as it is surrounded by deeper shadow. — Leonardo Da Vinci

The eye is the window of the human body through which it feels its way and enjoys the beauty of the world. — Leonardo Da Vinci

The study of what is excellent is food for the mind and body. — Leonardo Da Vinci

The imagination is to the effect as the shadow to the opaque body which causes the shadow. — Leonardo Da Vinci

We know more about the movement of celestial bodies than about the soil underfoot. — Leonardo Da Vinci

The spirit desires to remain with its body, because, without the organic instruments of that body, it can neither act, nor feel anything. — Leonardo Da Vinci

The painter or draftsman ought to be solitary, in order that the well–being of the body not sap the vigour of the mind. — Leonardo Da Vinci

The body of the earth is of the nature of a fish… because it draws water as its breath instead of air. — Leonardo Da Vinci

I say that the power of vision extends through the visual rays to the surface of non–transparent bodies, while the power possessed by these bodies extends to the power of vision. — Leonardo Da Vinci

To any white body receiving the light from the sun, or the air, the shadows will be of a bluish cast. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Thirst will parch your tongue and your body will waste through lack of sleep ere you can describe in words that which painting instantly sets before the eye. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Our life is made by the death of others. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Whoever does not respect life, does not deserve it. — Leonardo Da Vinci

A life well used procures a happy death. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Not to appreciate life, all of life, is not to deserve it. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Just as courage imperils life, fear protects it. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Life, when is spent well, is long. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Just as courage is the danger of life, so is fear its safeguard. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Art lives from constraints and dies from freedom. — Leonardo Da Vinci

In life beauty perishes, but not in art. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Beauty perishes in life, but is immortal in art. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Life is filled with secrets. You can’t learn them all at once. — Dan Brown

Every loss which we incur leaves behind it vexation in the memory, save the greatest loss of all, that is, death, which annihilates the memory, together with life. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Virtue is our true wealth and the true reward of its possessor; it cannot be lost, it never deserts us until life leaves us. — Leonardo Da Vinci

A man of supreme folly: his life flies away while he is merely hoping to enjoy it. — Leonardo Da Vinci

The motive power is the cause of all life. — Leonardo Da Vinci

As a well spent day brings happy sleep, so life well used brings happy death. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Just as a well–filled day brings blessed sleep, so a well–employed life brings a blessed death. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Lust is the cause of generation Appetite is the support of life Fear or timidity is the prolongation of life, and Fraud the preservation of its instruments. — Leonardo Da Vinci

People reveal themselves completely only when they are thrown out of the customary conditions of their life. — Leonardo Da Vinci

The water which rises in the mountains is the blood which keeps the mountain in life. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Inaction saps the vigor of the mind. — Leonardo Da Vinci

You must grow in patience when you meet with great wrongs, and they will then be powerless to vex your mind. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Learning never exhausts the mind. — Leonardo Da Vinci

The painter has the Universe in his mind and hands. — Leonardo Da Vinci

An artist’s studio should be a small space because small rooms discipline the mind and large ones distract it. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Small rooms or dwellings discipline the mind, large ones weaken it. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Learning is the only thing the mind never exhausts, never fears, and never regrets. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Small rooms or dwellings set the mind in the right path, large ones cause it to go astray. — Leonardo Da Vinci

The mind of a painter should be like a mirror which is filled with as many images as there are things placed before him. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Iron rusts from disuse; water loses its purity from stagnation… even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Just as iron which is not used grows rusty, and water putrefies and freezes in the cold, so the mind of which no use is made is spoilt. — Leonardo Da Vinci

The mind that engages in subjects of too great variety becomes confused and weakened. — Leonardo Da Vinci

If you put on more garments, the cold cannot reach you. Similarly, increase your patience and concentration and even great injuries cannot vex your mind. — Leonardo Da Vinci

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. — Leonardo Da Vinci

In fact, whatever exists in the universe, in essence, in appearance, in the imagination, the painter has first in his mind and then in his hands … it lies in his power to create them . . . — Leonardo Da Vinci

As every divided kingdom falls, so every mind divided between many studies confounds and saps itself. — Leonardo Da Vinci

A good painter is to paint two main things, men and the working of man’s mind. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Like a kingdom divided, which rushes to its doom, the mind that engages in subjects of too great variety becomes confused and weakened. — Leonardo Da Vinci

The knowledge of the past times and of the places of the earth is both an ornament and nutriment to the human mind. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Knowledge of the past and of the places of the earth is the ornament and food of the mind of man. — Leonardo Da Vinci

The painter’s mind is a copy of the divine mind, since it operates freely in creating the many kinds of animals, plants, fruits, landscapes, countrysides, ruins, and awe–inspiring places. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Where there is shouting, there is no true knowledge. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Science is the observation of things possible, whether present or past; prescience is the knowledge of things which may come to pass, though but slowly. — Leonardo Da Vinci

All our knowledge originates in opinion. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Great love is born of great knowledge of the thing that is loved, and if you do not know it, you can love it little or not at all. — Leonardo Da Vinci

All our knowledge is the offspring of our perceptions. — Leonardo Da Vinci

There is no higher or lower knowledge, but one only, flowing out of experimentation. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Abbreviators do harm to knowledge and to love. — Leonardo Da Vinci

True and great love springs out of great knowledge, and where you know little you can love but little or not at all. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Knowledge … shall always bear witness like a clarion to its creator. — Leonardo Da Vinci

The natural desire of good men is knowledge. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Art is the queen of all sciences communicating knowledge to all the generations of the world. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Drawing is based upon perspective, which is nothing else than a thorough knowledge of the function of the eye. — Leonardo Da Vinci

The painter must be solitary. For if you are alone you are completely yourself, but if you are accompanied by a single companion, you are only half yourself. — Leonardo Da Vinci

That painter who has no doubts will achieve little. — Leonardo Da Vinci

The painter strives and competes with nature. — Leonardo Da Vinci

The painter who has no doubt about his own ability will attain very little. — Leonardo Da Vinci

It reflects no great honour on a painter to be able to execute one thing well. — Leonardo Da Vinci

The poet ranks far below the painter in the representation of visible things, and far below the musician in that of invisible things. — Leonardo Da Vinci

O painter, take care lest the greed for gain prove a stronger incentive than renown in art, for to gain this renown is a far greater thing than is the renown of riches. — Leonardo Da Vinci

O painter skilled in anatomy, beware lest the undue prominence of the bones, sinews and muscles cause you to become a wooden painter from the desire to make your nude figures reveal all. — Leonardo Da Vinci

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 Vinci

A painter should begin every canvas with a wash of black, because all things in nature are dark except where exposed by the light. — Leonardo Da Vinci

The good painter must paint two things: a person and the essence of his soul. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Perspective is the rein and rudder of painting. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Perspective is to painting what the bridle is to the horse, the rudder to a ship. — Leonardo Da Vinci

He who despises painting has no love for the philosophy in nature. — Leonardo Da Vinci

We may call painting the grandchild of nature. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen. — Leonardo Da Vinci

If you call painting dumb poetry, the painter may call poetry blind painting. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Though I may not . . . be able to quote other authors, I shall rely on that which is much greater and more worthy–on experience. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Test knowledge through experience, be prepared to make mistakes, and be persistent about it. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Nature is full of infinite causes that have never occurred in experience. — Leonardo Da Vinci

All sciences are vain and full of errors that are not born of Experience, the mother of all Knowledge. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Avoid the precepts of those thinkers whose reasoning is not confirmed by experience. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Experience does not err. Only your judgments err by expecting from her what is not in her power. — Leonardo Da Vinci

But to me all sciences seem vain and full of error that are not born of experience, mother of all certainty, and do not terminate in an actual experience. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Experience is a truer guide than the words of others. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Experience never errs; it is only your judgments that err by promising themselves effects such as are not caused by your experiments. — Leonardo Da Vinci

Although nature commences with reason and ends in experience it is necessary for us to do the opposite, that is to commence with experience and from this to proceed to investigate the reason. — Leonardo Da Vinci