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Quotes from The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci — Leonardo da Vinci

1452–1519 Italy

← All quotes by Leonardo da Vinci

204 quotes

We are deceived by promises and time disappoints us...

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)

All our knowledge has its origin in our perceptions.

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)

We, by our arts may be called the grandsons of God.

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)

Every action needs to be prompted by a motive. To know and to will are two operations of the human mind. Discerning, judging, deliberating are acts of the human mind.

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)

To lie is so vile, that even if it were in speaking well of godly things it would take off something from God's grace; and Truth is so excellent, that if it praises but small things they become noble.

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)

It is bad if you praise, and worse if you reprove a thing, I mean, if you do not understand the matter well.

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)

Though I may not, like them, be able to quote other authors, I shall rely on that which is much greater and more worthy — on experience, the mistress of their Masters.

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)

He who thinks little, errs much.

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)

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

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)

Obstacles cannot crush me. Every obstacle yields to stern resolve. He who is fixed to a star does not change his mind.

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)

The Book of the science of Mechanics must precede the Book of useful inventions.

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)

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

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)

Those who fall in love with practice without science are like a sailor who enters a ship without a helm or a compass, and who never can be certain whither he is going.

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)

Many are they who have a taste and love for drawing, but no talent; and this will be discernible in boys who are not diligent and never finish their drawings with shading.

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)

The man who blames the supreme certainty of mathematics feeds on confusion, and can never silence the contradictions of sophistical sciences which lead to an eternal quackery.

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)

Many have made a trade of delusions and false miracles, deceiving the stupid multitude. Pharisees — that is to say, friars.

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)

Darkness is absence of light. Shadow is diminution of light.

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)

A dark object seen against a bright background will appear smaller than it is. A light object will look larger when it is seen against a background darker than itself.

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)

I am still hopeful. A falcon, Time. But the coincidence is probably accidental.

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)

The eye which turns from a white object in the light of the sun and goes into a less fully lighted place will see everything as dark.

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Leonardo da Vinci (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.