Quote
By Leonardo da Vinci
Just as iron rusts unless it is used, and water putrifies or, in cold, turns to ice, so our intellect spoils unless it is kept in use.
- Source
- The Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci, compiled and edited from the original manuscripts by Jean Paul Richter, vol. 2, 1883 · Richter no. 1177, p. 294
- Read at
- Internet Archive (scan of the 1883 first edition, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington; English translation by Jean Paul Richter)
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About this quote
From Leonardo's notebooks, in the English translation by Jean Paul Richter (The Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci, London: Sampson Low, 1883, no. 1177, in the chapter on morals). The 1883 print spells it "putrifies"; we keep the source's spelling. Leonardo wrote it in Italian (Siccome il ferro s'arruginiscie sanza esercitio...).