Who is Leonardo Da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci was born in Florence, Italy, in April 1452 and died in May 1519 and is widely regarded as one of the greatest painters of all time. He was a renowned polymath, active during the renaissance period and contributing to the fields of architecture, invention, drawing, science, mathematics, engineering and many more. Whilst many of his contributions can still be seen to date, only approximately 15 of his paintings are known to have survived, including Salvator Mundi, a piece which sold for over $450 million.
Whilst da Vinci had no formal academic training, he was trained by noted artists and as a result, is viewed as an example of a Universal Genius, someone who is inventive, imaginative and has such a diverse set of skills and talents, that is rarely found. It is noted by many scholars that there is not another in historical records with the same depth and breadth of knowledge and skill that da Vinci had.
Whilst many of his designs and theories were not possible to implement during his lifetime, many have subsequently come to pass including flying machines, solar power and an adding machine. With a doubt, a genius of humankind and his quotations are worthy records of who this man was.
Leonardo Da Vinci Quotes
1. Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.
2. A painter should begin every canvas with a wash of black, because all things in nature are dark except where exposed by the light.
3. 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.
4. Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.
5. 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.
6. The painter has the Universe in his mind and hands.
7. Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence.
8. I love those who can smile in trouble.
9. One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself.
10. 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.
11. The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding.
12. Nothing can be loved or hated unless it is first understood.
13. The smallest feline is a masterpiece.
14. Art is never finished, only abandoned.
15. 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.
16. As a well spent day brings happy sleep, so life well used brings happy death.
17. 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
18. Learning never exhausts the mind.
19. The knowledge of all things is possible
20. The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions.
21. There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see.
22. 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.
23. I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.
24. It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.
25. The function of muscle is to pull and not to push, except in the case of the genitals and the tongue.
26. The deeper the feeling, the greater the pain
27. As you cannot do what you want, Want what you can do
28. 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.
29. I thought I was learning to live; I was only learning to die.
30. Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen.
31. 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.
32. The time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men.
33. The artist sees what others only catch a glimpse of.
34. Iron rusts from disuse, stagnant water loses its purity, and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigors of the mind.
35. life without love, is no life at all
36. Realize that everything connects to everything else.
37. Time stays long enough for those who use it.
38. Make your work to be in keeping with your purpose
39. An average human looks without seeing, listens without hearing, touches without feeling, eats without tasting, moves without physical awareness, inhales without awareness of odour or fragrance, and talks without thinking.
40. Intellectual passion drives out sensuality.
41. Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.
42. I have offended God and mankind because my work didn’t reach the quality it should have.
43. All our knowledge has its origin in our perceptions
44. Water is the driving force in nature.
45. Patience serves as a protection against wrongs as clothes do against cold. For if you put on more clothes as the cold increases, it will have no power to hurt you. So in like manner you must grow in patience when you meet with great wrongs, and they will then be powerless to vex your mind.
46. God sells us all things at the price of labor.
47. All sciences are vain and full of errors that are not born of Experience, the mother of all Knowledge.
48. Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else.
49. A poet knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
50. Our life is made by the death of others.
51. I awoke only to find that the rest of the world was still asleep.
52. once you have tasted the taste of sky, you will forever look up
53. He who thinks little errs much…
54. Learning is the only thing the mind never exhausts, never fears, and never regrets.
55. My body will not be a tomb for other creatures.
56. Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!
57. He who possesses most must be most afraid of loss.
58. He who does not oppose evil……commands it to be done.
59. Obstacles cannot crush me; every obstacle yields to stern resolve.
60. He who loves practice without theory is like the sailor who boards ship without a rudder and compass and never knows where he may cast.
