The painter who is familiar with the nature of the sinews, muscles, and tendons, will know very well, in giving movement to a limb, how many and which sinews cause it; and which muscle, by swelling, causes the contraction of that sinew; and which sinews, expanded into the thinnest cartilage, surround and support the said muscle. Leonardo da Vinci Read Quote
The divisions of Perspective are 3, as used in drawing; of these, the first includes the diminution in size of opaque objects; the second treats of the diminution and loss of outline in such opaque objects; the third, of the diminution and loss of colour at long distances. Leonardo da Vinci Read Quote
Man and animals are in reality vehicles and conduits of food, tombs of animals, hostels of Death, coverings that consume, deriving life by the death of others. Leonardo da Vinci Read Quote
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. Leonardo da Vinci Read Quote
The spirit desires to remain with its body, because, without the organic instruments of that body, it can neither act, nor feel anything. Leonardo da Vinci Read Quote
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. Leonardo da Vinci Read Quote
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. Leonardo da Vinci Read Quote
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. Leonardo da Vinci Read Quote
In order to arrive at knowledge of the motions of birds in the air, it is first necessary to acquire knowledge of the winds, which we will prove by the motions of water in itself, and this knowledge will be a step enabling us to arrive at the knowledge of beings that fly between the air and the wind. Leonardo da Vinci Read Quote
