261 quotes
Every body in light and shade fills the surrounding air with infinite images of itself; and these, by infinite pyramids diffused in the air, represent this body throughout space and on every side.
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)
Those men who are inventors and interpreters between Nature and Man, as compared with boasters and declaimers of the works of others, must be regarded and not otherwise esteemed than as the object in front of a mirror, when compared with its image seen in the mirror.
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)
Nothing is that which fills no space.
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)
That man is of supreme folly who always wants for fear of wanting; and his life flies away while he is still hoping to enjoy the good things which he has with extreme labour acquired.
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)
Painting embraces and contains within itself all the things which nature produces or which results from the fortuitous actions of men... he is but a poor master who makes only a single figure well.
The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci (1938)
An infinite number of men will sell publicly and unhindered things of the very highest price, without leave from the Master of it; while it never was theirs nor in their power; and human justice will not prevent it.
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)
The vine that has grown old on an old tree falls with the ruin of that tree, and through that bad companionship must perish with it.
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)
Just as iron rusts unless it is used, and water putrifies or, in cold, turns to ice, so our intellect spoils unless it is kept in use.
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)
I obey Thee Lord, first for the love I ought, in all reason to bear Thee; secondly for that Thou canst shorten or prolong the lives of men.
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)
In order to prove whether the spirit can speak or not, it is necessary in the first place to define what a voice is and how it is generated.
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)
The variety of colour in objects cannot be discerned at a great distance, excepting in those parts which are directly lighted up by the solar rays.
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)
When the sun appears which dispels darkness in general, you put out the light which dispelled it for you in particular for your need and convenience.
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)
Of several luminous bodies of equal size and brilliancy and at an equal distance, that will look the largest which is surrounded by the darkest background.
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)
If you transmit the rays of the sun through a hole in the shape of a star you will see a beautiful effect of perspective in the spot where the sun's rays fall.
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)
Observe the light and consider its beauty. Blink your eye and look at it. That which you see was not there at first, and that which was there is there no more.
The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci (1938)
Weight, force and casual impulse, together with resistance, are the four external powers in which all the visible actions of mortals have their being and their end.
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)
The function which the wing performs against the air when the air is motionless is the same as that of the air moved against the wings when these are without motion.
The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci (1938)
The solar rays will kindle fire on the earth, by which a thing that is under the sky will be set on fire, and, being reflected by some obstacle, it will bend downwards.
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)
No impetus created by any movement whatever can be immediately consumed, but if it finds an object which has a great resistance it consumes itself in a reflex movement.
The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci (1938)
A shadow will appear dark in proportion to the brilliancy of the light surrounding it and conversely it will be less conspicuous where it is seen against a darker background.
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)