More than 500 years ago, there was man who visualized how technology could change the world. He then set about to totally
disrupt
the world and did just that. He conceptualized flying machines, a type
of armored fighting vehicle, concentrated solar power, an adding
machine, and the double hull, also outlining a rudimentary theory of
plate tectonics.
But this man was not a geek or nerd by today's terms. He was an
artist, a student of philosophy, physiology, and the humanities. He knew
that science without an understanding of human nature was simply play
with no useful
purpose or meaning.
Leonardo da Vinci, painter of
The Last Supper and the
Mona Lisa
was centuries ahead of his time in showing us that technology for
technology's sake will simply occupy time rather than unleash the best
of humanity.
Here are some of his most profound musings.
1. "
Learning never exhausts the mind."
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2. "Simplicity is the ultimate
sophistication."
3. "
Time stays long enough for anyone who will use it."
4. "I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather
strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business
of little minds to shrink, but they whose heart is firm, and whose
conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their
principles unto death."
5. "Poor is the
pupil who does not surpass his master."
6. "It had long since come to my attention that people of
accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went
out and
happened to things."
7. "I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must
do."
8. "The noblest pleasure is the joy of
understanding."
9. "
Experience never errs; it is only your judgments that err by promising themselves effects such as are not caused by your experiments."
10. "All our knowledge has its origins in our
perceptions."
11. "Although nature commences with reason and ends in
experience, it is necessary for us to do the opposite, that is to
commence with
experience and from this to proceed to investigate the reason."
12. "There are four powers:
memory
and intellect, desire and covetousness. The two first are mental and
the others sensual. The three senses sight, hearing, and smell cannot
well be prevented; touch and taste not at all."
13. "Just as food eaten without appetite is a tedious
nourishment, so does study without zeal damage the memory by not
assimilating what it
absorbs."
14. "All knowledge which ends in words will die as quickly as it came to life, with the exception of the
written word: which is its mechanical part."
15. "The
truth of things is the chief nutriment of superior intellects."
16. "Life well spent is
long."
17. "
Common sense is that which judges the things given to it by other senses."
18. "Knowledge of the past and of the places of the earth is the ornament and
food of the mind of man."
19. "As a well-spent day brings
happy sleep, so a life well spent brings happy death."
20. "Men of lofty genius when they are doing the
least work are most active."
