Quotes from Leonardo da Vinci

Not to punish evil is equivalent to authorizing it.

There will come a time when men look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men.

How may paintings have preserved the image of a divine beauty which in its natural manifestation has been rapidly overtaken by time or death. Thus, the work of the painter is nobler than that of nature, its mistress.

Although a man be not a painter, he may have just opinions of the forms of men.

Nothing should be so greatly feared as empty fame.

Time stays long enough for anyone who will use it.

The draperies that clothe figures must show that they are inhabited by these figures, enveloping them neatly to show the posture and motion of such figures, and avoiding the confusion of many folds, especially over the prominent parts, so that these may be evident

Man discourseth greatly, and his discourse is for the greater part empty and false; the discourse of animals is small, but useful and true: slender certainty is better than portentous falsehood.

You can have no dominion greater or less than that over yourself.

My body is not a tomb for other creatures.

No counsel is more trustworthy than that which is given upon ships that are in peril.

The painter will produce pictures of little merit if he takes the works of others as his standard: but if he will apply himself to learn from the objects of nature he will produce good results. This we see was the case with the painters who came after the time of the Romans, for they continually imitated each other, and from age to age their art steadily declined.

The air moves like a river and carries the clouds with it; just as running water carries all the things that float upon it.

Priroda nikada ne krši svoje zakone.

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

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

Nuestra vida está hecha de la muerte de otros

Los je ucenik onaj, koji je ne nadmasi svog ucitelja.

So vile a thing is a lie that even if it spoke fairly of God it would take away somewhat from His divinity; and so excellent a thing is truth that if it praises the humblest things they are exalted.

Reprove your friend in secret and praise him in public.

It is better to imitate ancient than modern work.

Tell me if anything was ever done... Tell me... Tell me.

Instrumental or mechanical science is the noblest and, above all others, the most useful.

When the fig-tree stood without fruit no one looked at it. Wishing by producing this fruit be praised by men, it was bent and broken by them.