“Marriage is like putting your hand into a bag of snakes in the hope of pulling out an eel.”
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath
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@xy, member from Sept. 25, 2023“He who wishes to be rich in a day will be hanged in a year.”
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XIX Philosophical Maxims. Morals. Polemics and Speculations.
“Why does the eye see more clearly when asleep than the imagination when awake?”
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XIX Philosophical Maxims. Morals. Polemics and Speculations.
Variant: Why does the eye see a thing more clearly in dreams than with the imagination being awake?
“Art is the queen of all sciences communicating knowledge to all the generations of the world.”
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath
“I awoke, only to find that the rest of the world is still asleep.”
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath
This derives from a comment about him written by Sigmund Freud, in Leonardo Da Vinci (1916): He was like a man who awoke too early in the darkness, while the others were all still asleep.
Misattributed
Source: Leonardo's Notebooks
“He who does not punish evil commands it to be done.”
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath
Chi non punisce il male comanda che si faccia.
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XIX Philosophical Maxims. Morals. Polemics and Speculations.
Variant: He who does not punish evil commands it to be done.
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XIX Philosophical Maxims. Morals. Polemics and Speculations.
“He who possesses most must be most afraid of loss.”
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XIX Philosophical Maxims. Morals. Polemics and Speculations.
“My body will not be a tomb for other creatures.”
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), X Studies and Sketches for Pictures and Decorations
“once you have tasted the taste of sky, you will forever look up”
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath
Source: Leonardo on Painting: An Anthology of Writings by Leonardo Da Vinci with a Selection of Documents Relating to His Career
“Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!”
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XIX Philosophical Maxims. Morals. Polemics and Speculations.
Context: Blind ignorance misleads us thus and delights with the results of lascivious joys. Because it does not know the true light. Because it does not know what is the true light. Vain splendour takes from us the power of being.... behold! for its vain splendour we go into the fire, thus blind ignorance does mislead us. That is, blind ignorance so misleads us that... O! wretched mortals, open your eyes.
“He who thinks little, errs much.”
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath
Chi poco pensa, molto erra.
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XIX Philosophical Maxims. Morals. Polemics and Speculations.
“Our life is made by the death of others.”
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XIV Anatomy, Zoology and Physiology
“Thou, O God, dost sell us all good things at the price of labour.”
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XIX Philosophical Maxims. Morals. Polemics and Speculations.
“I have offended God and mankind because my work didn't reach the quality it should have.”
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath
“All our knowledge has its origin in our perceptions.”
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XIX Philosophical Maxims. Morals. Polemics and Speculations.