Vitality and beauty are gifts of Nature for those who live according to its laws.
People talk to people who perceive nothing, who have open eyes and see nothing; they shall talk to them and receive no answer; they shall adore those who have ears and hear nothing; they shall burn lamps for those who do not see.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the futility of communicating with those who lack perception and understanding.
Leonardo Da Vinci's quote highlights the irony of human interaction and the tendency to engage with those who are oblivious to deeper truths. It suggests that people often seek validation and attention from those who are unresponsive, resulting in a lack of meaningful dialogue. The imagery of burning lamps for the blind emphasizes the misguided efforts of individuals who invest their energy in enlightening others who remain indifferent.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the importance of effective communication, one might cite this quote to illustrate the challenges of engaging with unperceptive individuals.
More from Leonardo Da Vinci
All quotes →Small rooms or dwellings set the mind in the right path, large ones cause it to go astray.
Patience serves us against insults precisely as clothes do against the cold. For if you multiply your garments as the cold increases, that cold cannot hurt you; in the same way increase your patience under great offenses, and they cannot hurt your feelings.
The smallest feline is a masterpiece.
For, verily, great love springs from great knowledge of the beloved object, and if you little know it, you will be able to love it only little or not at all.
It is a far worthier thing to read by the light of experience than to adorn oneself with the labors of others.
Similar quotes
People working on bigger ideas on a more protracted timeline will be more on the stealth side. They aren’t releasing new PR announcements every day. The bigger the secret and the likelier it is that you alone have it, the more time you have to execute. There may be far more people going after hard secrets than we think.
We have this idea in our minds that there's this separation of church and state in America, which I think is a good thing. And we extend that to our politics - not just church and state, but it's also there's a separation of religion and politics. But of course there isn't.
The chief misery of the decline of the faculties, and a main cause of the irritability that often goes with it, is evidently the isolation, the lack of customary appreciation and influence, which only the rarest tact and thoughtfulness on the part of others can alleviate.
A human being has so many skins inside, covering the depths of the heart. We know so many things, but we don't know ourselves! Why, thirty or forty skins or hides, as thick and hard as an ox's or bear's, cover the soul. Go into your own ground and learn to know yourself there.
We cannot restore integrity and morality to our society until each of us-singly and individually-takes responsibility for our actions.
History is nothing but a problem of mechanics applied to psychology.