"In rivers, the water that you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes so with present time."

Time

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Thematic Reflection

This quotation examines the core nature of Time as articulated by Leonardo da Vinci. Within historical and literary traditions, reflections on Time provide actionable mental models, challenging individuals to evaluate personal ethics, self-discipline, and daily actions.

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About Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested on his achievements as a painter, he has also become known for his notebooks, in which he made drawings and notes on a variety of subjects, including anatomy, astronomy, botany, cartography, painting, and palaeontology. Leonardo is widely regarded as a genius who epitomised the Renaissance humanist ideal, and his collective works contributed to the development of European art to an extent rivalled only by that of his younger contemporary Michelangelo.

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More by Leonardo da Vinci

"The greatest deception is forgetting that the most profound truths are found in silence."

— Leonardo da Vinci
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"Wisdom principle 54 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 4."

— Leonardo da Vinci
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"While I thought that I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die."

— Leonardo da Vinci
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"It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things."

— Leonardo da Vinci
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More about Time

"It was an amazing performer. Very temperamental, it spent a lot of time in its trailer."

— Tilda Swinton
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"People with clear, written goals, accomplish far more in a shorter period of time than people without them could ever imagine."

— Brian Tracy
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"We can choose a future where we export more products and outsource fewer jobs. After a decade that was defined by what we bought and borrowed, we're getting back to basics, and doing what America has always done best: We're making things again."

— Barack Obama
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"You know, people speak in poetry all the time. They just don't realize it."

— Sherman Alexie
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