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Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci Quotes

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Famous Leonardo da Vinci Quotes

“The light for drawing from nature should come from the North in order that it may not vary. And if you have it from the South, keep the window screened with cloth, so that with the sun shining the whole day the light may not vary. The height of the light so arranged as that every object shall cast a shadow on the ground of the same length as itself.”

IfsShouldMayWholeLightOrderSunObjectsShadowWindowShiningSouthCastsDrawingHeightLengthVary
Book:The notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci
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“I think it is no small attraction in a painter to be able to give a pleasing air to his figures, and whoever is not naturally possessed of this grace may acquire it by study, as opportunity offers in the following manner: be on the watch to take good parts of many beautiful faces of which the beautiful parts are established by general repute rather than by your own judgement, for you may deceive yourself by selecting faces that resemble your own, since it often seems that such similarities please us; ... so therefore choose the beautiful ones as I tell you and fix them in your mind.”

ThinkingGivingMindMaySeemsAbleBeautifulFacesOpportunityWatchesStudyGraceAirFiguresPleaseOffersFollowingAttractionPainterJudgementAcquirePossessedDeceivingSimilarityBeautiful Face
Author:Leonardo da Vinci
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“Many will think they may reasonably blame me by alleging that my proofs are opposed to the authority of certain men held in the highest reverence by their inexperienced judgments; not considering that my works are the issue of pure and simple experience.”

ThinkingMenMayCertainSimpleIssuesPureAuthorityJudgmentHighestBlameProofReverenceConsideringBlame Me
Book:Delphi Complete Works of Leonardo da Vinci (Illustrated)
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“All our knowledge hast its origins in our perceptions … In nature there is no effect without a cause … Experience never errs; it is only your judgments that err by promising themselves effects such as are not caused by your experiments … Science is the observation of things possible, whether present or past; prescience is the knowledge of things which may come to pass.”

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Author:Leonardo da Vinci
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“A bird is an instrument working according to mathematical law, which instrument it is within the capacity of man to reproduce with all its movements, but not with a corresponding degree of strength, though it is deficient only in the power of maintaining equilibrium. We may therefore say that such an instrument constructed by man is lacking in nothing except the life of the bird, and this life must needs be supplied from that of man.”

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Author:Leonardo da Vinci
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“When you look at a wall spotted with stains...you may discover a resemblance to various landscapes, beautiful with mountains, rivers, rocks, trees. Or again, you may see battles and figures in action, or strange faces and costumes, and an endless variety of objects which you could reduce to complete and well-drawn figures.”

WellsLooksMayActionBeautifulFacesSeeingTreeRocksFiguresObjectsStrangeWallBattleMountainRiversVariousEndlessVarietyLandscapeCostumesStainsResemblance
Author:Leonardo da Vinci
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“The beginnings and ends of shadow lie between the light and darkness and may be infinitely diminished and infinitely increased. Shadow is the means by which bodies display their form. The forms of bodies could not be understood in detail but for shadow.”

MayMeanEndsBodyLightFormLyingDarknessUnderstoodShadowDetailsDisplayLight And DarknessBeginnings And Ends
Book:Delphi Complete Works of Leonardo da Vinci (Illustrated)
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“Although human ingenuity may devise various inventions which, by the help of various instruments, answer to one and the same purpose, yet will it never discover any inventions more beautiful, more simple or more practical than those of nature, because in her inventions there is nothing lacking and nothing superfluous; and she makes use of no counterpoise when she constructs the limbs of animals in such a way as to correspond to the motion of their bodies, but she puts into them the soul of the body.”

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Book:Delphi Complete Works of Leonardo da Vinci (Illustrated)
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“You should look at certain walls stained with damp, or at stones of uneven color. If you have to invent some backgrounds you will be able to see in these the likeness of divine landscapes, adorned with mountains, ruins, rocks, woods, great plains, hills and valleys in great variety; and expressions of faces and clothes and an infinity of things which you will be able to reduce to their complete and proper forms. In such walls the same thing happens as in the sound of bells, in whose stroke you may find every named word which you can imagine.”

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Author:Leonardo da Vinci
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