Quotes From Leonardo da Vinci

[Gauracandra]

I came across these quotes and found them interesting:

 

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."

 

"Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind."

 

"All our knowledge has its origin in our perceptions."

 

"Once you have flown, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been, and there you long to return."

 

"A well-spent day brings happy sleep."

 

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

 

"There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see."

 

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

 

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

[Gauracandra]

This was the first quote I came across:

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."

 

It reminded me greatly of a line from George MacDonald in Phantastes. George MacDonald is considered by many to be the founder of modern fantasy writing having influenced JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Lewis Carol, and many others. In Phantastes the main character encounters a diminutive woman who springs from his dresser drawer and leads him on into a fantastic world. Here is the quote from Phantastes that I remembered:

 

"Her dress was of a kind that could never grow old-fashioned because it was simply natural."

 

When I first read this I realized something about devotional clothing. There is something about a sari & a dhoti that allows a certain amount of self-expression, and yet everyone looks the same. No one would ever see a dhoti and think it was out of style. Nor a sari. It just is. In one sense it is very natural clothing. A piece of cloth that is wrapped around and forms clothing, then is returned to just a piece of cloth. Devotional clothing isn't old-fashioned in that sense, its just natural. Things with stitches, and buttons, and tassles and this and that, can go out of style, because some days big buttons are in, some days tassles are out. But a piece of cloth is about as simple a piece of clothing as you can get. I liked Leonardo's quote as well in this connection. There is something sophisticated in a simple garment. Its timeless.

[Gauracandra]

The more I contemplate this principle of Leonardo the truer it becomes. Something, anything, which can capture the essence of an idea, bringing it to a sharp point in as simple a manner has a sort of brilliance.

 

Consider for instance toys. What toys will be around for hundreds of years. They are the simplest toys. The yo-yo was used in ancient Greece. Its a very simple toy. I bet you in a hundred years kids will still be playing with a frizbee, a hula hoop, and a round rubber ball. However, the latest fad electronic gizmo will go out of style within the year. The difference, is that the yo-yo, the frizbee, the ball all have a simple idea that they perfectly capture.

 

I mentioned the sari and dhoti. Its a simple piece of cloth that is simply clothing. It is a cloth, turns into clothing, then returns to cloth.

 

Even in philosophy, there are writers I've read who can in a few words cut straight to the point. Their words are sharp, clear, and in a sense very simple. If you can attain this simplicity, its actually very impressive. There is sophistication in simplicity.

[krsna]

 

 

Leonardo da Vinci Quotes:

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.

 

Anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to authority is not using his intelligence; he is just using his memory.

 

As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well spent brings happy death.

 

 

Common Sense is that which judges the things given to it by other senses.

 

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.

 

 

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

 

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.

 

 

Human subtelty 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.

 

 

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

 

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

 

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.

 

 

In rivers, the water that you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes; so with present time.

 

 

Iron rusts from disuse; water loses its purity from stagnation... even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind.

 

 

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.

 

Just as courage imperils life, fear protects it.

 

 

Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else.

 

 

Life well spent is long.

 

 

Marriage is like putting your hand into a bag of snakes in the hope of pulling out an eel.

 

Men of lofty genius when they are doing the least work are most active.

 

Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence.

 

 

Our life is made by the death of others.

 

People react to fear, not love - they don't teach that in Sunday School, but it's true.

 

 

 

The art of procreation and the members employed therein are so repulsive, that if it were not for the beauty of the faces and the adornments of the actors and the pent-up impulse, nature would lose the human species.

 

 

The function of muscle is to pull and not to push, except in the case of the genitals and the tongue.

 

 

The human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art.

 

The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding.

 

 

The poet ranks far below the painter in the representation of visible things, and far below the musician in that of invisible things.

 

 

There shall be wings! If the accomplishment be not for me, 'tis for some other.

 

 

Water is the driving force of all nature.

 

 

When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.

 

 

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

 

 

While I thought that I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die.

 

 

Who sows virtue reaps honor.

 

 

Why does the eye see a thing more clearly in dreams than the imagination when awake?

 

You do ill if you praise, but worse if you censure, what you do not understand.

 

 

/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[Avinash]

When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.

 

I have tasted the flight, but I don't walk with eyes turned skeyward. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

May be that Leonardo was talking about flying with one's own wings rather than in an aircraft.

[theist]

 

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

 

 

TRANSLATION Bg 2.41

Those who are on this path are resolute in purpose, and their aim is one. O beloved child of the Kurus, the intelligence of those who are irresolute is many-branched.

[theist]

 

"There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see."

 

 

TRANSLATION Bg 2.29

Some look on the soul as amazing, some describe him as amazing, and some hear of him as amazing, while others, even after hearing about him, cannot understand him at all.

[stonehearted]

Nice connections, theist! You've thrown down a challenge, I believe.

[theist]

I just noticed the similarities.

[theist]

 

"Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind."

 

 

This shows us the basic difference between matter and spirit. Spirit is dynamic. "Alive" ,"Full of life". We use these expression to describe someone who is active and involved, exhibiting signs of life, and the atma is the life.

 

Matter on the other hand when not under the influence of a life particle tends to break down into a the simplest possible state of inertia, entropy.

 

da Vinci rather he knew it or not, was pointing out the need for the soul to express itself lest it fall deeper into the mode of ignorance.

 

The highest expression of life is Bhakti.

 

 

[Guest guest]

"whoa"

 

"who has the pizza"

 

"why is michaelangelo getting all the vatican contracts, hes not even a union member"

 

"cowabunga"

 

Actually, Im a divinci fan. In fact, all the underground are my heroes, like victor hugo, bottacelli, etc. Even patrice lumumba.

 

mad mahax

[krsna]

When you put your hand in a flowing stream, you touch the last that has gone before and the first of what is still to come. --Leonardo da Vinci