“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), XIX Philosophical Maxims. Morals. Polemics and Speculations.
Variant: Just as iron rusts from disuse... even so does inaction spoil the intellect.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 27, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Just as iron rusts unless it is used, and water putrifies or, in cold, turns to ice, so our intellect spoils unless it …" by Leonardo Da Vinci?

Leonardo Da Vinci 363

Italian Renaissance polymath 1452–1519

Related quotes

“Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind.”

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), I Prolegomena and General Introduction to the Book on Painting

“It is very strange, this domination of our intellect by our digestive organs. We cannot work, we cannot think, unless our stomach wills so. It dictates to us our emotions, our passions.”

Jerome K. Jerome book Three Men in a Boat

Source: Three Men in a Boat (1889), Ch. 10.

“Antisthenes used to say that envious people were devoured by their own disposition, just as iron is by rust.”

Diogenes Laërtius (180–240) biographer of ancient Greek philosophers

Antisthenes, 4.
The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (c. 200 A.D.), Book 6: The Cynics

“These hearts rust just as iron rusts; and indeed they are polished through the recitation of the Qur’an.”

Muhammad (570–632) Arabian religious leader and the founder of Islam

Irshadul Qulub; Page 78
Shi'ite Hadith

“Iron rusts from disuse; water loses its purity from stagnation... even so does inaction sap the vigour of the mind.”

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath

“There will be no real content among American women unless they are made and kept more ignorant or unless they are given equal opportunity with men to use what they have been taught. And American men will not be really happy until their women are.”

Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973) American writer

Harper’s Magazine (August 1938), p. 232

“There's something moving
Under, under the ice,
Moving under ice,
Through water,
Trying to get out of the cold water.
"It's me."”

Kate Bush (1958) British recording artist; singer, songwriter, musician and record producer

Something, someone — help them.
"It's me."
Song lyrics, Hounds of Love (1985), The Ninth Wave

“… life is meaningless unless you bring meaning to it; … it is up to us to create our own existence. Unless you do something, unless you make something it's as though you aren't there.”

Alan Alda (1936) actor and United States Army officer

from Alan Alda's graduation speech, 1980 http://www.graduationwisdom.com/speeches/0020-alda1.htm.

“Words are like money; there is nothing so useless, unless when in actual use.”

Samuel Butler (1835–1902) novelist

Thought and Word, viii
The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912), Part VII - On the Making of Music, Pictures, and Books

“The acquisition of any knowledge is always of use to the intellect, because it may thus drive out useless things and retain the good. For nothing can be loved or hated unless it is first known.”

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XIX Philosophical Maxims. Morals. Polemics and Speculations.

“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.”

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Leonardo Da Vinci 363

Related quotes

Related topics