Quote

I would venture to affirm that a man cannot attain excellence if he satisfy the ignorant and not those of his own craft, and if he be not 'singular' or 'distant,' or whatever you like to call him.

Leonardo da Vinci

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Leonardo da Vinci
Age: 67 †
Born: 1452
Born: April 15
Died: 1519
Died: May 2
Anatomist
Architect
Astronomer
Botanist
Caricaturist
Chemist
Civil Engineer
Composer
Diplomat
Engineer
Inventor
Mathematician
Musician
Distant
Would
Craft
Men
Crafts
Like
Excellence
Affirm
Ignorant
Singular
Call
Satisfy
Attain
Whatever
Venture
Cannot

More quotes by Leonardo da Vinci

Image
I am not to blame for putting forward, in the course of my work on science, any general rule derived from a previous conclusion.
Leonardo da Vinci
Image
When you draw a nude, sketch the whole figure and nicely fit the members to it and to each other. Even though you may only finish one portion of the drawing, just make certain that all the parts hang together, so that the study will be useful to you in the future.
Leonardo da Vinci
Image
Art is the queen of all sciences communicating knowledge to all the generations of the world.
Leonardo da Vinci
Image
The eye which turns from a white object in the light of the sun and goes into a less fully lighted place will see everything as dark.
Leonardo da Vinci
Image
We might say that the earth has the spirit of growth that its flesh is the soil.
Leonardo da Vinci
Image
Instrumental or mechanical science is the noblest and above all others, the most useful.
Leonardo da Vinci
Image
I love those who can smile in trouble.
Leonardo da Vinci
Image
The poet ranks far below the painter in the representation of visible things, and far below the musician in that of invisible things.
Leonardo da Vinci
Image
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.
Leonardo da Vinci
Image
Although nature commences with reason and ends in experience it is necessary for us to do the opposite, that is to commence with experience and from this to proceed to investigate the reason.
Leonardo da Vinci
Image
The wisest and noblest teacher is nature itself.
Leonardo da Vinci
Image
Music... is the shaping of the invisible.
Leonardo da Vinci
Image
Perspective is a most subtle discovery in mathematical studies, for by means of lines it causes to appear distant that which is near, and large that which is small.
Leonardo da Vinci
Image
Affective gestures pointing to things near either in time or space should be made with the hand not very far from the body of the person pointing and if these things are distant, the hand of the painter should be more extended and the face turned toward the person to whom he is addressing the demonstration.
Leonardo da Vinci
Image
Poetry is superior to painting in the presentation of words, and painting is superior to poetry in the presentation of facts. For this reason I judge painting to be superior to poetry.
Leonardo da Vinci
Image
One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself.
Leonardo da Vinci
Image
One's thoughts turn towards Hope.
Leonardo da Vinci
Image
The painter who draws merely by practice and by eye, without any reason, is like a mirror which copies every thing placed in front of it without being conscious of their existence.
Leonardo da Vinci
Image
Those who condemn the supreme certainty of mathematics feed on confusion, and can never silence the contradictions of the sophistical sciences which lead to eternal quackery.
Leonardo da Vinci
Image
He who despises painting has no love for the philosophy in nature.
Leonardo da Vinci