About Leonardo Da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci was born out of wedlock in 1452 to Ser Piero, who was a well-known man as a leading citizen of Venice, and a peasant girl. With his status in life, he was not given the opportunity of having an upper class education. He received what little education he got from a parish priest that focused more on reading, writing and a simple arithmetic. He even described himself as "omo sanza lettere", which means "a man without education".
When Leonardo was just a little boy, he already showed talent for drawing. So he was sent to Florence to apprentice with the famous artist, Andrea del Verrocchio. There, the course of his life really began to take shape. His talent was quickly recognised and he was commissioned to do lots of important works. He was always exploring and trying new techniques in his pieces. Leonardo painted some of the most memorable images in history, including the last supper and the Mona Lisa. Not only he is known for his drawings, he was fascinated with anatomy, engineering, science, and music, and filled thousands of pages in his famous notebooks with his ideas, plans, drawings and inventions. He was also employed by kings, princes and popes, and was the friend of Machiavelli, Cesar Borgia and King Francis I of France. He became an architect and an engineer. He invented the helicopter 400 years before there was such a thing as a combustion engine. Leonardo da Vinci was a very creative man. He was a great mind who was decisive enough to meet his goals, even without wealth and the moral support of his family.
Books on Da Vinci
Da Vinci on Learning
"Learning never exhausts the mind."
"Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in."
"Iron rusts from disuse, stagnant water loses its purity, and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigors of the mind."
"He who thinks little errs much…"
"All sciences are vain and full of errors that are not born of experience, the mother of all knowledge."
"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!"
"The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding."
"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."
"I roamed the countryside searching for answers to things I did not understand. Why thunder lasts longer than that which causes it, and why immediately on its creation the lightning becomes visible to the eye while thunder requires time to travel. How the various circles of water form around the spot which has been struck by a stone and why a bird sustains itself in the air. These questions and other strange phenomena engaged my thought throughout my life."
"Anyone who in discussion relies upon authority uses, not his understanding, but rather his memory."
"Study the science of art. Study the art of science. Develop your senses - especially learn how to see. Realise that everything connects to everything else."
Da Vinci on Success
"It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things."
"I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do."
"The body which is nearest to the light casts the largest shadow, and why?"
Da Vinci on Time Management
"Time stays long enough for those who use it."
"As a well spent day brings happy sleep, so life well used brings happy death."
"Art is never finished, only abandoned."
Da Vinci on Perfection
"A poet knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."
"The artist sees what others only catch a glimpse of."
Da Vinci on Overcoming Challenges
"Obstacles cannot crush me; every obstacle yields to stern resolve."
Da Vinci on Purpose
"As you cannot do what you want, want what you can do"
"Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen."
"Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art."
Da Vinci on Simplicity
"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."
More Quotes from Da Vinci
"Wisdom is the daughter of experience."
"One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself."
"The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions."
"It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end."
"I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men."
"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"
"Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence."
"The deeper the feeling, the greater the pain"