Leonardo da Vinci

The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions.

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

Intellectual passion drives out sensuality.

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.

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

I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but they whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their principles unto death.

I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.

For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return.

Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence.

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

Tears come from the heart and not from the brain.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

Water is the driving force of all nature.

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

The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding.

Learning never exhausts the mind.

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

Who sows virtue reaps honor.