Quotes

Satan knew that heaven was better than hell; but he felt himself to be fitter for the latter place. Trollope, Anthony. The Small House

The hurry is not for matrimony, but for love. Then, the love once attained, matrimony seizes it for its own, and the evil is

Among the young men who became Leonardo’s companions, by far the most important was the scamp known as Salai, who arrived on July 22,

Leonardo’s work producing theatrical pageants was enjoyable and remunerative, but it also served a larger purpose. It required him to execute his fantasies. Unlike

The more than 7,200 pages now extant probably represent about one-quarter of what Leonardo actually wrote,4 but that is a higher percentage after five

The elaborate contract was designed to force Leonardo, already known for leaving paintings unfinished, to buckle down and produce a completed work. It stipulated

The Adoration of the Magi thus encapsulates Leonardo’s frustrating genius: a pathbreaking and astonishing display of brilliance that was abandoned once it was conceptualized.

When Leonardo was painting The Last Supper (fig. 74), spectators would visit and sit quietly just so they could watch him work. The creation

Leonardo was one of history’s most disciplined observers of nature, but his observation skills colluded rather than conflicted with his imaginative skills. Like his

sculpting is a messier endeavor, one not suitable for a gentleman of the court. The sculptor is “pasted and smeared all over with marble