49 Leonardo da Vinci Quotes About Art, Love, and Life

The greatest polymath of the 15th century, Leonardo da Vinci is to painting what William Shakespeare is to literature, Albert Einstein is to science, Isaac Newton is to astronomy or Karl Marx is to sociology. Leonardo da Vinci undoubtedly is the greatest painter of the Renaissance era, when Europe saw a great shift from the Middle Ages to modernity in the fields of art, literature, and classical philosophy. Leonardo da Vinci, a genius born in the midst of the 15th century in Italy, was the greatest polymath of all times, having expertise in a variety of areas thanks to his never-ending love for knowledge and creative imaginations.

Name a field of art or science and you will find Leonardo da Vinci’s unmatchable work in that area. Being the most diversely talented individual to ever walk on Earth, Leonardo da Vinci is also dubbed as a ‘superhuman’ by many historians. Leonardo da Vinci’s areas of interest range from painting, sculpting, architecture, music, literature, writing, and history to anatomy, invention, science, mathematics, engineering, geology, astronomy, botany, and cartography.

Many might know him for his paintings but Leonardo is also deemed as the Father of Paleontology, and his work in the field of Ichnology, and Architecture itself is second to none. Leonardo’s insanely imaginative brain conceptualized flying machines, which turned into reality in the form of parachute and helicopter years after his death. He is also the man behind the invention of the tank.

As far as the field of art is concerned, Leonardo da Vinci is the greatest painter to ever walk on the land. His painting work, be it ‘Mona Lisa’, the mysteriously greatest piece of art ever produced on canvas, or ‘The last Supper’, the most recognized and religiously reproduced painting, left behind a rich legacy. Moreover, ‘The Vitruvian Man’ by da Vinci depicts the perfect mixture of science and art and is portrayed as a cultural icon.

Although Leonardo da Vinci’s unmatchable work in a variety of areas of science set the mark for a modern era and his artistic work with a brush has left a never-ending impression in the field of painting, he has also sparked magic with his quotes filled with wisdom. Leonardo’s quotes span over a variety of aspects; as varied as his areas of study in science and art were. Here is a compilation of the best of Leonardo da Vinci’s quotes about life, art, painting, and success.

26 Leonardo da Vinci’s Quotes on Art and Painting

No doubt Leonardo da Vinci had put his brain and soul in a variety of fields but his heart was all in painting and that is clear from his quotes on art and painting. His sayings about painting are a token of wisdom for Today’s painters. Here are 26 of Leonardo da Vinci’s quotes on art everyone must read:

1. “Painting is concerned with all the 10 attributes of sight; which are: Darkness, Light, Solidity and Colour, Form and Position, Distance and Propinquity, Motion and Rest.” – Leonardo da Vinci

2. “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

3. “Painting is concerned with all the 10 attributes of sight; which are: Darkness, Light, Solidity and Colour, Form and Position, Distance and Propinquity, Motion and Rest.” – Leonardo da Vinci

4. “The mind of the painter must resemble a mirror, which always takes the colour of the object it reflects and is completely occupied by the images of as many objects as are in front of it.” – Leonardo da Vinci

5. “The painter who draws merely by practice and by eye, without any reason, is like a mirror which copies everything placed in front of it without being conscious of their existence.” – Leonardo da Vinci

6. “Art is never finished, only abandoned.” – Leonardo da Vinci

7. “Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.” – Leonardo da Vinci

8. “Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.” – Leonardo da Vinci

9. “A painter should begin every canvas with a wash of black, because all things in nature are dark except where exposed by the light.” – Leonardo da Vinci

10. “The painter has the Universe in his mind and hands.” – Leonardo da Vinci

11. “It’s easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.” – Leonardo da Vinci

12. “Art lives from constraints and dies from freedom.” – Leonardo da Vinci

13. “Do not imitate one another’s style. If you do, so far as your art is concerned you will be called a grandson, rather than the son of Nature.” – Leonardo da Vinci

14. “No one should ever imitate the style of another because, with regard to art, he will be called a nephew and not a child of nature.” – Leonardo da Vinci

15. “He only moves toward the perfection of his art whose criticism surpasses his achievement.” – Leonardo da Vinci

16. “Sculpture, a very noble art, is one that does not in the execution require the same supreme ingenuity as the art of painting, since in two most important and difficult particulars, in foreshortening and in light and shade… the painter has to invent a process, [whereas] sculpture is helped by nature.” – Leonardo da Vinci

17. “An artist’s studio should be a small space because small rooms discipline the mind and large ones distract it.” – Leonardo da Vinci

18. “The vivacity and brightness of colors in a landscape will never bear any comparison with a landscape in nature when it is illumined by the sun, unless the painting is placed in such a position that it will receive the same light from the sun as does the landscape.” – Leonardo da Vinci

19. “Surely when a man is painting a picture he ought not refuse to hear any man’s opinion… Since men are able to form a true judgement as to the works of nature, how much more does it behoove us to admit that they are able to judge our faults.” – Leonardo da Vinci

20. “He who despises painting has no love for the philosophy in nature.” – Leonardo da Vinci

21. “Perspective is to painting what the bridle is to the horse, the rudder to a ship.” – Leonardo da Vinci

22. “One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself.” – Leonardo da Vinci

23. “Art is the queen of all sciences communicating knowledge to all the generations of the world.” – Leonardo da Vinci

24. “The color of the object illuminated partakes of the color of that which illuminates it.” – Leonardo da Vinci

25. “How painting surpasses all human works by reason of the subtle possibilities which it contains.” – Leonardo da Vinci

26. “One painter ought never to imitate the manner of any other; because in that case he cannot be called the child of nature, but the grandchild. It is always best to have recourse to nature, which is replete with such abundance of objects, than to the productions of other masters, who learnt everything from her.” – Leonardo da Vinci

23 Leonardo da Vinci Quotes on Love and Life

The man who conceptualized flying machines almost 500 years ago, the man who visualized technology as the ultimate future is also the man who has left plenty of inspirational quotes to learn from them the true essence of life. Here are 20 of Leonardo da Vinci’s quotes on love and life:

1. “Learning never exhausts the mind.” – Leonardo da Vinci

2. “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” – Leonardo da Vinci

3. “Time stays long enough for anyone who will use it.” – Leonardo da Vinci

4. “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.” – Leonardo da Vinci

5. “Poor is the pupil who does not surpass his master.” – Leonardo da Vinci

6. “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.” – Leonardo da Vinci

7. “I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.” – Leonardo da Vinci

8. “The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding.” – Leonardo da Vinci

9. “Experience never errs; it is only your judgments that err by promising themselves effects such as are not caused by your experiments.” – Leonardo da Vinci

10. “All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions.” – Leonardo da Vinci

11. “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

12. “There are four powers: memory and intellect, desire and covetousness. The two first are mental and the others sensual. The three senses sight, hearing, and smell cannot well be prevented; touch and taste not at all.” – Leonardo da Vinci

13. “Just as food eaten without appetite is a tedious nourishment, so does study without zeal damage the memory by not assimilating what it absorbs.” – Leonardo da Vinci

14. “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

15. “The truth of things is the chief nutriment of superior intellects.” – Leonardo da Vinci

16. “Life well spent is long.” – Leonardo da Vinci

17. “Common sense is that which judges the things given to it by other senses.” – Leonardo da Vinci

18. “Knowledge of the past and of the places of the earth is the ornament and food of the mind of man.” – Leonardo da Vinci

19. “As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well spent brings happy death.” – Leonardo da Vinci

20. “Men of lofty genius when they are doing the least work are most active.” – Leonardo da Vinci

21. “All our knowledge has its origins in our perceptions.” – Leonardo da Vinci

22. “Life without love is not life at all.” – Leonardo da Vinci

23. “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” – Leonardo da Vinci

10 Best Leonardo da Vinci Quotes Images in 2022

Check out this fantastic collection of Leonardo da Vinci quotes wallpapers below:

Conclusion

Although Leonardo da Vinci lived centuries ago but his work in the field of science and art set the precedent of technological advancement and fusion of science and art, making him the greatest man to have lived in Renaissance era. His work has been an asset for the scientists, inventors and artists coming after him. His quotes on a variety of aspects of life are something to learn from.

Which of the Leonardo da Vinci’s quotes are your favorites? Let us know in the comments.