Quotes and anectdotes from the wise to the foolish, and the courageous to the drunk

Leonardo da Vinci Painter

  • Gender: Male
  • Citizenship: Republic of Florence
  • Born: Apr 15, 1452
  • Died: May 2, 1519

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian polymath, painter, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, and writer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived. His genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal. Leonardo has often been described as the archetype of the Renaissance Man, a man of "unquenchable curiosity" and "feverishly inventive imagination". According to art historian Helen Gardner, the scope and depth of his interests were without precedent and "his mind and personality seem to us superhuman, the man himself mysterious and remote". Marco Rosci states that while there is much speculation about Leonardo, his vision of the world is essentially logical rather than mysterious, and that the empirical methods he employed were unusual for his time.

Born out of wedlock to a notary, Piero da Vinci, and a peasant woman, Caterina, in Vinci in the region of Florence, Leonardo was educated in the studio of the renowned Florentine painter Verrocchio.

Art is never finished, only abandoned. art

Time stays long enough for anyone who will use it. time

Life well spent is long. life

Just as courage imperils life, fear protects it. courage & fear

The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions. men

While I thought that I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die. death & learning

As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well spent brings happy death. death

A well-spent day brings happy sleep. life

Experience does not err. Only your judgments err by expecting from her what is not in her power. experience & power

Marriage is like putting your hand into a bag of snakes in the hope of pulling out an eel. hope & marriage

Nature never breaks her own laws. nature

The human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art. art & work

In rivers, the water that you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes so with present time. time

He who is fixed to a star does not change his mind. change

Learning never exhausts the mind. learning

Where there is shouting, there is no true knowledge. knowledge

Anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to authority is not using his intelligence he is just using his memory. intelligence

I have offended God and mankind because my work didn't reach the quality it should have. God & work

Why does the eye see a thing more clearly in dreams than the imagination when awake? dreams & imagination

Our life is made by the death of others. death

The smallest feline is a masterpiece. pet

Beyond a doubt truth bears the same relation to falsehood as light to darkness. truth

Water is the driving force of all nature. nature

Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art. art & work

The truth of things is the chief nutriment of superior intellects. truth

All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions. knowledge

Men of lofty genius when they are doing the least work are most active. men & work