Leonardo da Vinci > Quotes

“Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.”
― 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

“Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.”
― Leonardo da Vinci

“Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.”
― Leonardo da Vinci

“It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.”
― Leonardo da Vinci

“Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence.”
― Leonardo da Vinci

“The painter has the Universe in his mind and hands.”
― Leonardo da Vinci

“I love those who can smile in trouble...”
― Leonardo da Vinci

“One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself.”
― Leonardo da Vinci

“The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding.”
― Leonardo da Vinci

“I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men.”
― Leonardo da Vinci

“Nothing can be loved or hated unless it is first understood.”
― Leonardo da Vinci

“The smallest feline is a masterpiece.”
― Leonardo da Vinci

“Art is never finished, only abandoned.”
― Leonardo da Vinci

“As a well spent day brings happy sleep, so life well used brings happy death.”
― Leonardo da Vinci

“If you are alone you belong entirely to yourself. If you are accompanied by even one companion you belong only half to yourself or even less in proportion to the thoughtlessness of his conduct and if you have more than one companion you will fall more deeply into the same plight.”
― Leonardo da Vinci

“Learning never exhausts the mind.”
― Leonardo da Vinci

“I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but they whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their principles unto death”
― Leonardo da Vinci

“The knowledge of all things is possible”
― Leonardo da Vinci

“The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions.”
― Leonardo da Vinci

“There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.”
― 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

“I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.”
― Leonardo da Vinci

“It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.”
― Leonardo da Vinci

“The deeper the feeling, the greater the pain”
― Leonardo da Vinci

“The function of muscle is to pull and not to push, except in the case of the genitals and the tongue.”
― Leonardo da Vinci

“As you cannot do what you want,
Want what you can do”
― Leonardo da Vinci

“One 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 DaVinci

“I thought I was learning to live; I was only learning to die.”
― Leonardo da Vinci

“You will never have a greater or lesser dominion than that over yourself...the height of a man's success is gauged by his self-mastery; the depth of his failure by his self-abandonment. ...And this law is the expression of eternal justice. He who cannot establish dominion over himself will have no dominion over others.”
― Leonardo da Vinci