Inspirational Quotes
Words to motivate, inspire, and guide you.
Leonardo da Vinci Quotes
NatureKnowledgeLogicPrinciple Nature is the source of all true knowledge. She has her own logic, her own laws, she has no effect without cause nor invention without necessity.
PhysiologyUniqueness The function of muscle is to pull and not to push, except in the case of the genitals and the tongue.
InactionStagnationMental VigorActivity Iron rusts from disuse; water loses its purity from stagnation... even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind.
DestinyInventionFlightAmbition I have always felt it is my destiny to build a machine that would allow man to fly.
Art FormsArtistic ExpressionRepresentation The poet ranks far below the painter in the representation of visible things, and far below the musician in that of invisible things.
PerceptionAwarenessInsightIgnorance There are three classes of people: those who see, those who see when they are shown, those who do not see.
ExperienceJudgmentExpectationWisdom Experience does not err. Only your judgments err by expecting from her what is not in her power.
Human NatureMindSensesDesire There are four Powers: memory and intellect, desire and covetousness. The two first are mental and the others sensual. The three senses: sight, hearing and smell cannot well be prevented; touch and taste not at all.
TheoryPracticeGuidancePurpose He who loves practice without theory is like the sailor who boards ship without a rudder and compass and never knows where he may cast.
DreamImaginationPerceptionClarity Why does the eye see a thing more clearly in dreams than the imagination when awake?
SpiritBodyInterdependence The spirit desires to remain with its body, because, without the organic instruments of that body, it can neither act, nor feel anything.
MedicineSicknessHarmonyHealingBalance Medicine is the restoration of discordant elements; sickness is the discord of the elements infused into the living body.
WisdomKnowledgeTrue RichesMaterialism Good men by nature, wish to know. I know that many will call this useless work... men who desire nothing but material riches and are absolutely devoid of that of wisdom, which is the food and only true riches of the mind.
RegretQuality of WorkAccountability I have offended God and mankind because my work didn't reach the quality it should have.
StrengthPerseveranceResilienceCourageIntegrity 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.
PaintingVisual PerceptionElements of Art Painting is concerned with all the 10 attributes of sight; which are: Darkness, Light, Solidity and Colour, Form and Position, Distance and Propinquity, Motion and Rest.
KnowledgeWritten WordPreservation All knowledge which ends in words will die as quickly as it came to life, with the exception of the written word: which is its mechanical part.
Human BodyEngineeringArtPerfection The human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art.
DestinyMemoryEarly LifeEncounter It seems that it had been destined before that I should occupy myself so thoroughly with the vulture, for it comes to my mind as a very early memory, when I was still in the cradle, a vulture came down to me, he opened my mouth with his tail and struck me a few times with his tail against my lips.
MarriageRiskHopeUncertainty Marriage is like putting your hand into a bag of snakes in the hope of pulling out an eel.
UnderstandingJudgmentDiscernment You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand.
MindPerceptionObservationArtReflection The mind of the painter must resemble a mirror, which always takes the colour of the object it reflects and is completely occupied by the images of as many objects as are in front of it.
PowerTransient SuccessFameMaterialism How many emperors and how many princes have lived and died and no record of them remains, and they only sought to gain dominions and riches in order that their fame might be ever-lasting.
IgnoranceAwarenessSufferingDeceptionTruth & Wisdom Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!
PerceptionProportionScale There is no object so large but that at a great distance from the eye it does not appear smaller than a smaller object near.
Nature's VarietyUniquenessIndividualityDiversity To such an extent does nature delight and abound in variety that among her trees there is not one plant to be found which is exactly like another; and not only among the plants, but among the boughs, the leaves and the fruits, you will not find one which is exactly similar to another.
PerfectionSimplicityEfficiency 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.
DualityTransformationPresence 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.
Human AnatomySensory OrgansAnimal ComparisonPhysiology LimitationsBodily Functionality I have found that, in the composition of the human body as compared with the bodies of animals, the organs of sense are duller and coarser. Thus, it is composed of less ingenious instruments, and of spaces less capacious for receiving the faculties of sense.