Leonardo da Vinci

"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."

"It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them."

"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."

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

"The beautiful things we perceive by sense are not beautiful in themselves, but derive their beauty from the divine light."

"To understand the thing, one must understand all that enters into it."

"The painter who draws by practice and judgment of the eye without the use of reason is like a mirror which reproduces within itself all the objects which are set opposite to it."

"Consider the subtleness of the things of nature; how thin the leaves of trees are, yet how beautifully veined."

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

"The greatest strength lies in gentleness."

"Nothing is less important than which fork you use. Etiquette is invisible. It is always with you."

"Curiosity is the beginning of knowledge."

"The paradox is only a conflict between reality and your feeling of what reality ought to be."

"Men of lofty genius accomplish the most when they work the least."

"I am still learning."

"Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen."

"He who is fixed to a star does not change his mind."

"The acquisition of knowledge is never a guarantee of practical ability."

"Nature has much to teach us about the principles of design and balance."

"God is the supreme mind; the universe is his work of art."

"Justice consists of restoring equality between unequals."

"The measure of intelligence is the ability to change."

"Even the richest soil cannot be productive without cultivation."

"Patience serves as a protection against wrongs as clothes do against cold."

"The same boiling water that softens the potato hardens the egg. It's about what you are made of, not the circumstances."

"Hunger and love are the two fundamental forces of human behavior."

"The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me."

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

"Every skilled man must sharpen his tools."

"The lover is moved by the beloved object as the sense is moved by sensible objects."