Leonardo da Vinci Quotations | Page 5

If anyone wishes to see how the soul dwells in its body, let him observe how this body uses its daily habitation; that is to say, if this is devoid of order and confused, the body will be kept in disorder and confusion by its soul...

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.

We should not desire the impossible.

The imagination is to the effect as the shadow to the opaque body which causes the shadow.

Such is the supreme folly of man that he labours so as to labour no more.

A long life is a life well spent.

If the thing loved is base, the lover becomes base.

Lust is the cause of generation.

Nature appears to have been the cruel stepmother rather than the mother of many animals.

The soul can never be corrupted with the corruption of the body, but it is like the wind which causes the sound of the organ, and which ceases to produce a good effect when a pipe is spoilt.