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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.

— Leonardo da Vinci The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)

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Variants

Just as iron rusts from disuse... even so does inaction spoil the intellect.

More quotes by Leonardo da Vinci

Things that are separate shall be united and acquire such virtue that they will restore to man his lost memory.

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)

Of the horse I will say nothing because I know the times.

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)

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.

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)

Drawing is based upon perspective, which is nothing else than a thorough knowledge of the function of the eye.

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)

Animals will be seen on the earth who will always be fighting against each other with the greatest loss and frequent deaths on each side.

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Leonardo da Vinci (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.