Society and the World

Truly man is the king of beasts, for his brutality exceeds them. We live by the death of others. We are burial places.

Good culture is born of a good disposition; and since the cause is more to be praised than the effect, I will rather praise a good disposition without culture, 47 t h a n g o o d c u l t u r e w i t h o u t t h e disposition.

Good culture is born of a good disposition; and since the cause is more to be praised than the effect, I will rather praise a good disposition without culture, 47 t h a n g o o d c u l t u r e w i t h o u t t h e disposition.

It’s not enough that you believe what you see. You must also understand what you see.

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.

Learn diligence before speedy execution.

Perspective is to painting what the bridle is to the horse, the rudder to a ship.

O speculators about perpetual motion, how many vain chimeras have you created in the like quest? Go and take your place with the seekers after gold.

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.

Avoid the precepts of those thinkers whose reasoning is not confirmed by experience.

All objects transmit their image to the eye in pyramids and the nearer to the eye these pyramids are intersected the smaller will the image appear of the objects which cause them.

The faculty of imagination is both the rudder and the bridle of the senses.

It is useful to constantly observe, note, and consider.

The young man should first learn perspective, then the proportions of objects. Next, copy work after the hand of a good master, to gain the habit of drawing parts of the body well; and then 39 to work from nature, to confirm the lessons learned.

The natural desire of good men is knowledge.

A day will come in which men will look upon an animal’s murder the same way they look today upon a man’s murder.

Many have made a trade of delusions and false miracles, deceiving the stupid multitudes.

Strive to preserve your health; and in this you will better succeed in proportion as you keep clear of the physicians, for their drugs are a kind of alchemy concerning which there are no fewer books than there are medicines.

Nature is full of infinite causes that have never occurred in experience.

Darkness is absence of light. Shadow is diminution of light.

Learning acquired in youth arrests the evil of old age; and if you understand that old age has wisdom for its food, you will so conduct yourself in youth that your old age will not lack for nourishment.

Let proportion be found not only in numbers and measures, but also in sounds, weights, times, and positions, and what ever force there is.

You can have no dominion greater or less than that over yourself.

The color of the object illuminated partakes of the color of that which illuminates it.