Leonardo da Vinci. Artist, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician—the Renaissance Man. But what did Leonardo da Vinci really do? This is a question that has been asked by historians and biographers for centuries. In this blog post, we will explore some of the most famous Leonardo da Vinci accomplishments and try to get a better understanding of this enigmatic figure. So sit back, relax, and let’s take a closer look at the life of Leonardo da Vinci.
Here are the most known Work, Painter, Knowledge, Body, Experience, Nature, Painting, Mind Famous, Inventors, Flight quotes from Leonardo Da Vinci, and much more.
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
What is Leonardo da Vinci best known for?
Leonardo da Vinci was an artist and engineer who is best known for his paintings, notably the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper . His drawing of the Vitruvian Man has also become a cultural icon.
Leonardo is sometimes credited as the inventor of the tank, helicopter, parachute, and flying machine, among other vehicles and devices, but later scholarship has disputed such claims.
Nonetheless, Leonardo’s notebooks reveal a sharp intellect, and his contributions to art, including methods of representing space, three-dimensional objects, and the human figure, cannot be overstated.
Nature appears to have been the cruel stepmother rather than the mother of many animals. — Leonardo Da Vinci
A good memory, which nature has endowed us with, causes things long past to seem present. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Human subtlety will never devise an invention more beautiful, more simple or more direct than does nature because in her inventions nothing is lacking, and nothing is superfluous. — Leonardo Da Vinci
There is no result in nature without a cause; understand the cause and you will have no need of the experiment. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Every action done by nature is done in the shortest way. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Those who are inspired by a model other than Nature, labor in vain. — Leonardo Da Vinci
If you do not rest on the good foundation of nature, you will labour with little honor and less profit. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Do not imitate one another’s style. If you do, so far as your art is concerned you will be called a grandson, rather than the son of Nature. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Vitality and beauty are gifts of Nature for those who live according to its laws. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Water is the driving force of all nature. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Necessity is the mistress and guide of nature. Necessity is the theme and inventress of nature, her curb and her eternal law. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Nature varies the seed according to the variety of the things she desires to produce in the world. — Leonardo Da Vinci
What induces you, oh man, to depart from your home in town, to leave parents and friends, and go to the countryside over mountains and valleys, if it is not for the beauty of the world of nature? — Leonardo Da Vinci
Oh! Speculators on things, boast not of knowing the things that nature ordinarily brings about; but rejoice if you know the end of those things which you yourself device. — Leonardo Da Vinci
LEONARDO DA VINCI QUOTES ABOUT THE MIND
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
How many Leonardo da Vinci paintings are there?
Leonardo da Vinci’s total output in painting is really rather small; there are less than 20 surviving paintings that can be definitely attributed to him, and several of them are unfinished.
Two of his most important works—the Battle of Anghiari and the Leda, neither of them completed—have survived only in copies. . Source
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
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
LEONARDO DA VINCI QUOTES ON KNOWLEDGE
Where there is shouting, there is no true knowledge. — Leonardo Da Vinci
Redundant Thematics
In Leonardo Da Vinci Statements
body
work
painter
knowledge
mind
experience
nature
life
painting
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
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
What was Leonardo da Vinci’s personality like?
Leonardo da Vinci was described as having a gracious but reserved personality and an elegant bearing.
He was known to be fastidious in personal care, keeping a beard neat and trim in later age, and to dress in colorful clothing in styles that dismissed current customs.
The 16th-century writer Giorgio Vasari indicated that Leonardo cared little for money but was very generous toward his friends and assistants.
He had an exceedingly inquisitive mind and made strenuous efforts to become erudite in languages, natural science, mathematics, philosophy, and history, among other subjects.
The writings in his notebooks suggest that he may have been a vegetarian, and there is also some speculation that he may have been homosexual. . Source
For, verily, great love springs from great knowledge of the beloved object, and if you little know it, you will be able to love it only little or not at all. — 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
LEONARDO DA VINCI QUOTES ON PAINTER
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
LEONARDO DA VINCI QUOTES ON PAINTING
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
What was Leonardo da Vinci’s family like?
Leonardo da Vinci’s parents were unmarried at the time of his birth near a small village named Vinci in the Tuscan region.
His father, Ser Piero, was a Florentine notary and landlord, and his mother, Caterina, was a young peasant woman who shortly thereafter married an artisan.
Leonardo grew up on his father’s family’s estate, where he was treated as a “legitimate” son and received the usual elementary education of the day: reading, writing, and arithmetic.
Leonardo never married, but he had many close relationships with other artists and intellectuals as well as with his assistants. . Source
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
LEONARDO DA VINCI QUOTES ABOUT THE BODY
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
LEONARDO DA VINCI QUOTES ON EXPERIENCE
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