"The air which is struck with most swiftness by the movable thing is compressed to the greatest degree in itself."

Leonardo da Vinci Mathematics See all quotes by Leonardo da Vinci →

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“3 miglia più in là si trova li edifici della vena del rame e dello argento, presso una terra detta Pra Santo Petro e vene di ferro e cose fantastiche. (Ancient Italian)”

“truovasi di miglio i(n) miglio bone osteriee. (Ancient Italian)”

“Subito salse in me due cose: paura e desiderio: paura per la minacciante e scura spelonca, desiderio per vedere se là entro fusse alcuna miracolosa cosa. (Ancient Italian)”

“Fa vini potenti e assai, … e ‘l vino vale el più uno soldo il boccale e la libbra della vitella un soldo e ‘l sale 10 dinari, e ‘l simile il burro, ed è la loro libbra 30 once, e l’ova un soldo la soldata. (Modern Italian)”

“Movement will fail sooner than usefulness.”

“A shadow will appear dark in proportion to the brilliancy of the light surrounding it and conversely it will be less conspicuous where it is seen against a darker background.”

Resonant Thoughts

"We must learn this rule, which is true alike of rich and poor — that no man and no class of men ever rise to any permanent improvement in their condition of body or of mind except by relying upon thei…"

— Robert Gascoyne-Cecil

Politics1830–1903

#knowledge

"It was manifest that all persons who had learned that political science is an affair of conscience rather than of might or expediency, must regard their adversaries as men without principle, that the …"

— John Dalberg-Acton

Literature1834–1902

#justice

"A Constitution, to contain an accurate detail of all the subdivisions of which its great powers will admit, and of all the means by which they may be carried into execution, would partake of the proli…"

— John Marshall

Politics1941–2023

#life

"On the 2004 Summer Olympics: "Nobody proposed me anything to do with the Olympics. Nothing. Maybe the Olympics have become too much of a supermarket now. The other athletics events have more of the sp…"

— Vangelis

Music1943–2022

#humor