WIST Quotations

Leonardo da Vinci -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

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.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) Italian artist, engineer, scientist, polymath
(Attributed)

Leonardo da Vinci -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

I take no more notice of the wind that comes out of the mouths of critics than of the wind expelled from their backsides.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) Italian artist, engineer, scientist, polymath
(Attributed)

Leonardo da Vinci -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) Italian artist, engineer, scientist, polymath
(Attributed)

Leonardo da Vinci -- Note-books (1508-1518)

Dave — Fri, 03 Jan 2014 15:34:43 +0000

He who does not punish evil commends it to be done.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) Italian artist, engineer, scientist, polymath
Note-books (1508-1518)
(Source)

In some versions, this is translated as "commands it to be done."

Leonardo da Vinci -- Note-books, 1 [tr. McCurdy (1908)]

Dave — Thu, 01 Jan 2015 18:49:42 +0000

Shun those studies in which the work that results dies with the worker.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) Italian artist, engineer, scientist, polymath
Note-books, 1 [tr. McCurdy (1908)]

Leonardo da Vinci -- Note-books, 1 [tr. McCurdy (1908)]

Dave — Thu, 08 Jan 2015 13:59:13 +0000

Just as eating contrary to the inclination is injurious to the health, so study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) Italian artist, engineer, scientist, polymath
Note-books, 1 [tr. McCurdy (1908)]

Leonardo da Vinci -- Notebooks, De Anatomia, folio A. 10 r. [tr. McCurdy (1939)]

Dave — Wed, 28 Sep 2022 22:36:29 +0000

Da Vinci Folio A. 10 r. Red bracket to the right side of the quoted text (which is written in mirrored form). (Source)

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.

[L’atto del coito e li membri a quello adoperati son di tanta bruttura che se non fussi le bellezze de’ volti e li ornamenti delli operanti e la frenata disposizione, la natura perderebbe la spezie umana.]

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) Italian artist, engineer, scientist, polymath
Notebooks, De Anatomia, folio A. 10 r. [tr. McCurdy (1939)]
(Source)

Windsor Anatomical manuscript A., folio 10 r / R. L. 19009R (Source (Italian)). Alternate translations:

The act of procreation and everything that has any relation to it is so disgusting that human beings would soon die out if it were not a traditional custom and if there were no pretty faces and sensuous dispositions.
[tr. Brill (1916), after Freud (1910)]

The act of procreation and anything that has any relation to it is so disgusting that human beings would soon die out if there were no pretty faces and sensuous dispositions.
[Variant tr. Brill (1916), after Freud (1910)]

The act of procreation and everything connected with it is so disgusting that mankind would soon die out if it were not an old-established custom and if there were not pretty faces and sensuous natures.
[tr. Tyson (1961), after Freud (1910)]

The act of coition and the members employed are so ugly that but for the beauty of the faces, the adornments of their partners and the frantic urge, Nature would lose the human race.
[tr. Dalwood (1962) after Bataille (1957)]

The act of copulation and the members employed are so repulsive, that if it were not for the beauty of faces and the adornments of the actors and unbridled passion, nature would lose the human race.
[tr. Armstrong (2013), after Nancy (2009)]

Leonardo da Vinci -- The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, Vol. 1, ch. 2 “Aphorisms” (1888) [ed/tr. McCurdy (1938 ed.)]

Dave — Sat, 20 Sep 2025 05:00:18 +0000

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.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) Italian artist, engineer, scientist, polymath
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, Vol. 1, ch. 2 “Aphorisms” (1888) [ed/tr. McCurdy (1938 ed.)]
(Source)

Source noted as Codice Atlantico 289 v. c.

Leonardo da Vinci -- MS. 2038, Bib. Nat. 34 r. [tr. McCurdy (1908)]

Dave — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 23:44:19 +0000

Just as eating contrary to the inclination is injurious to the health, study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) Italian artist, engineer, scientist, polymath
MS. 2038, Bib. Nat. 34 r. [tr. McCurdy (1908)]
(Source)

Leonardo da Vinci -- Notebook entry (c. 1500), Leonardo da Vinci’s Note-Books (1906) [tr. MacCurdy]

Dave — Tue, 02 Mar 2021 17:19:46 +0000

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

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) Italian artist, engineer, scientist, polymath
Notebook entry (c. 1500), Leonardo da Vinci’s Note-Books (1906) [tr. MacCurdy]
(Source)

Codice Atlantico 76 v. a.

Leonardo da Vinci -- Notebooks (c. 1500) [tr. Richter]

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Anyone who in discussion relies upon authority uses, not his understanding, but his memory.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) Italian artist, engineer, scientist, polymath
Notebooks (c. 1500) [tr. Richter]

Alt. trans.: "The one who relies on authority during a discussion does not use his mind but his memory."