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Today's Da Vinci Code: 553 |
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Contributed by Curt Wehrley
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Friday, 15 April 2005 |
Leonardo da Vinci, often hailed as “the true Renaissance man,” was
born on this day in 1452. Given my background in engineering and
statistics, I can’t help but revere his work. Like many before
me, I am amazed at not only the breadth of the subject areas he
tackled, but also how thoroughly he studied them. He was the
ultimate experimenter, and he exhibited an extraordinary ability to
integrate the observations of his studies with his art. Wikipedia, the online free-content encyclopedia that anyone can edit, provides a good source of all things da Vinci here.
Da Vinci’s art has obviously gained a great deal of notoriety recently from the success of author Dan Brown’s novel The Da Vinci Code.
What often gets overlooked, however, is the genius of his outlook on
work [and life]. The following three quotations from his
writings represent timeless
wisdom, yet seem more fitting now than ever: “Life
is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do
more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you
do something else. The trick is the doing something else.”
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
“The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding.”
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