The Wisdom Letter #062
5 quotes from Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)
✹ For today's Wisdom Letter, we have carefully curated five bite-sized quotes from the Italian polymath, Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519).
Quote № 01:
“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, “The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci”
Quote № 02:
“Painting is poetry which is seen and not heard, and poetry is a painting which is heard but not seen. These two arts, you may call them both either poetry or painting, have here interchanged the senses by which they penetrate to the intellect.”
— Leonardo da Vinci
Quote № 03:
“Many will think they may reasonably blame me by alleging that my proofs are opposed to the authority of certain men held in the highest reverence by their inexperienced judgments; not considering that my works are the issue of pure and simple experience, who is the one true mistress. These rules are sufficient to enable you to know the true from the false — and this aids men to look only for things that are possible and with due moderation — and not to wrap yourself in ignorance, a thing which can have no good result, so that in despair you would give yourself up to melancholy.”
— Leonardo da Vinci, “The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci”
Quote № 04:
“Truth at last cannot be hidden. Dissimulation is of no avail. Dissimulation is to no purpose before so great a judge. Falsehood puts on a mask. Nothing is hidden under the sun.”
— Leonardo da Vinci
Quote № 05:
“The acquisition of any knowledge is always of use to the intellect, because it may thus drive out useless things and retain the good. For nothing can be loved or hated unless it is first known.”
— Leonardo da Vinci
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✺ Today’s Questions
Three philosophical questions to foster your curiosity:
Question № 01:
Can poetry provide solace and healing in times of grief or adversity?
Question № 02:
How does society's perception of usefulness shape the pursuit of knowledge?
Question № 03:
What is the relationship between art and truth?
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Q2: Because, like it or not, we are all formed by the society in which we live, societies always frame and limit our worldviews. One simple example: Ws can not think or imagine in a language we do not know. Even those who fundamentally reject current social norms must do so within the social framework in which they live.
What is the relationship between art and truth?
If we take a look at renaissance art we can see how geometry and perspective start to play a big role, thus making truth (the careful and observed representation of natural reality) a fundamental aspect of art. Of course this is not to say that all art follows the same fundamentals as the renaissance artists did.
This is why I believe a lot of people dislike more contemporary works which don’t necessarily adhere to anatomy, science or mathematical laws whatsoever.
However… some philosophers debate that truth is entirely subjective, making my previous argument outdated 🤷♂️
I know I didn’t really answer the question for my knowledge is limited.
But what do you think? 🤔