The Notebooks of Leonardo DaVinci

Those who are in love with practice without knowledge are like the sailor who gets into a ship without rudder or compass and who never can be certain whether he is going

We know very well that errors are better recognised in the works of others than in our own; and that often, while reproving little faults in others, you may ignore great ones in yourself

The sorest misfortune is when your views are in advance of your work.

The water you touch in a river is the last of that which has passed, and the first of that which is coming. Thus it is with time present.

Life if well spent, is long.

The sorest misfortune is when your views are in advance of your work.

You know that you cannot invent animals without limbs, each of which, in itself, must resemble those of some other animal.

Of grotesque faces I need say nothing, because they are kept in mind without difficulty.

noses are of 10 types: straight, bulbous, hollow, prominent above or below the middle, aquiline, regular, flat, round or pointed.

When you draw from nature stand at a distance of 3 times the height of the object you wish to draw.

when you paint you should have a flat mirror and often look at your work as reflected in it, when you will see it reversed, and it will appear to you like some other painter’s work, so you will be better able to judge of its faults than in any other way.