Leonardo da Vinci

Polymath, artist, inventor, scientist

Early Modern influential 87 sayings

Sayings by Leonardo da Vinci

He who does not punish evil commands it to be done.

c. 1500s — Notebooks
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

The value of a thing is in its use.

c. 1500s — Notebooks
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

No human investigation can be called true science if it doesn't pass through mathematical demonstrations.

c. 1500s — Notebooks
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

The water that you touch in a river is the last of that which has passed, and the first of that which comes; so with present time.

c. 1500s — Notebooks
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

Oh, how many times have I been deceived by my own opinions!

c. 1500s — Notebooks
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

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

1519 — From his notebooks near the end of his life
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

I love those who can smile in trouble.

1500s — From his notebooks
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

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

1500s — From his notebooks on art and creativity
Strange & Unusual Confirmed

An average human looks without seeing, listens without hearing, touches without feeling, eats without tasting, moves without physical awareness, inhales without awareness of odour or fragrance, and talks without thinking.

Undated, but from his lifetime (1452-1519) — From his notebooks, a critical observation of human behavior.
Controversial Unverifiable

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

Undated, but from his lifetime (1452-1519) — From his notebooks, a statement on the infallibility of experience and fallibility of human interpre…
Controversial Unverifiable

As every divided kingdom falls, so every mind divided between many studies confounds and saps itself.

Undated, but from his lifetime (1452-1519) — From his notebooks, advising against intellectual dispersion.
Controversial Unverifiable

Human subtlety will never devise an invention more beautiful, more simple or more direct than does nature, because in her inventions nothing is lacking and nothing is superfluous.

Undated, but from his lifetime (1452-1519) — From his notebooks, praising nature's design over human ingenuity.
Controversial Unverifiable

It is better to imitate ancient than modern work.

Undated, but from his lifetime (1452-1519) — From his notebooks, a surprising preference for older art/knowledge.
Controversial Unverifiable

Poor is the pupil who does not surpass his master.

Undated, but from his lifetime (1452-1519) — From his notebooks, a challenge to students.
Controversial Confirmed

Men will seem like wooden puppets, moving without reason.

1500s — From his notebooks, criticizing human folly
Controversial Unverifiable

The act of procreation and anything that has any relation to it is so disgusting that human beings would soon die out if it were not a traditional custom and if there were no pretty faces and sensuous dispositions.

1500s — From his notebooks, expressing disdain for human sexuality
Controversial Unverifiable

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

c. 1490-1519 — Notebooks
Humorous Unverifiable

Learning never exhausts the mind.

c. 1490-1519 — Notebooks
Humorous Unverifiable

Art is never finished, only abandoned.

c. 1490-1519 — Notebooks
Humorous Unverifiable

Water is the driving force of all nature.

c. 1490-1519 — Notebooks
Humorous Unverifiable