Leonardo DaVinci

The tears come from the heart and not from the brain.

declaimers of the works of others, must be regarded and not otherwise esteemed than as the object in front of a mirror, when compared with its image seen in the mirror. For the first is something in itself, and the other nothingness – folks little indebted to Nature, since it is only by chance that they wear the human form and without it I might class them with the herds of beasts.

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

‘I will go my own way and withdraw apart, the better to study the forms of natural objects,’ I tell you, you will not be able to help often listening to their chatter. And so, since one cannot serve two masters, you will badly fill the part of a companion, and carry out your studies of art even worse. And if you say: ‘I will withdraw so far that their words cannot reach me and they cannot disturb me,’ I can tell you that you will be thought mad. But, you see, you will at any rate be alone. And if you must have companionship find it in your studio. This may assist you to have the advantages which arise from various speculations. All other company may be highly mischievous.

Nature teaches us that an object can never be seen perfectly unless the space between it and the eye is equal, at least, to the length of the face.

all equally large and equally distant, that which is most brightly illuminated will appear to the eye nearest and largest.

Every man, at three years old, is half the full height he will grow to at last.

The space between the extreme poles inside and outside the foot called the ankle or ankle bone a b is equal to the space between the mouth and the inner corner of the eye.

The youth should first learn perspective, then the proportions of objects. Then he may copy from some good master, to accustom himself to fine forms. Then from nature, to confirm by practice the rules he has learnt. Then see for a time the works of various masters. Then get the habit of putting his art into practice and work.

Therefore you must know, O Painter! that you cannot be a good one if you are not the universal master of representing by your art every kind of form produced by nature.