Quotes from Leonardo da Vinci

O time! swift devourer of all created things!

I am still hopeful. A falcon, Time. But the coincidence is probably accidental.

Some promises and time disappoint us

The eye - which sees all objects reversed - retains the images for some time.

Nothing can be loved or hated unless it is first known.

True and great love springs out of great knowledge, and where you know little you can love but little or not at all.

Love shows itself more in adversity than in prosperity; as light does, which shines most where the place is darkest.

The function of muscle is to pull and not to push, except in the case of the genitals and the tongue.

If the thing loved is base, the lover becomes base.

Great love is born of great knowledge of the thing that is loved, and if you do not know it, you can love it little or not at all.

Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!

The human bird shall take his first flight, filling the world with amazement, all writings with his fame, and bringing eternal glory to the nest whence he sprang.

Every loss which we incur leaves behind it vexation in the memory, save the greatest loss of all, that is, death, which annihilates the memory, together with life.

The sun gives spirit and life to the plants and the earth nourishes them with moisture.

I say that the power of vision extends through the visual rays to the surface of non-transparent bodies, while the power possessed by these bodies extends to the power of vision.

Of several bodies, all equally large and equally distant, that which is most brightly illuminated will appear to the eye nearest and largest.

Of the four elements water is the second in weight and the second in respect of mobility. It is never at rest until it unites with the sea.

The eye is the window of the human body through which it feels its way and enjoys the beauty of the world.

He who never puts his trust in any man will never be deceived.

The most beautiful words of love are told in silence for a look.

Do not reveal, if liberty is precious to you; my face is the prison of love.

Abbreviators do harm to knowledge and to love.

Medicine is the restoration of discordant elements; sickness is the discord of the elements infused into the living body.

Truth at last cannot be hidden. Dissimulation is of no avail. Dissimulation is to no purpose before so great a judge. Falsehood puts on a mask. Nothing is hidden under the sun.