"The most relentlessly curious man in history."

"Leonardo da Vinci was the greatest genius who ever lived."

"He was a man of regal spirit and tremendous breadth of mind."

"In him was such a rare combination of gifts, that whatever he directed his attention to, he was able to penetrate with such ease and force, that no artist has ever surpassed him."

"Whoever looks upon this work shall not see how it is possible for a human hand to equal such perfection."

"I have wasted my life, since I have never yet seen a work that satisfied me."

"There have been, of course, many other insatiable polymaths, and even the Renaissance produced other Renaissance Men. But none painted the Mona Lisa."

"Leonardo was the most talented person who ever lived. He could do anything."

"Sigmund Freud wrote that Leonardo was like a man who awoke too early in the darkness while others were still sleeping."

"He was like a man who awoke too early in the darkness, while the others were all still asleep."

"Napoleon said that whoever understands Leonardo's Battle of Anghiari understands war."

"He was, perhaps, the most diversely talented person ever to have lived."

"Michelangelo, his great rival, once said that Leonardo had the most magnificent mind that had ever been born."

"The Mona Lisa is the world's most visited, most written about, most sung about, most parodied work of art."

"He was the supreme example of the Renaissance ideal — not just knowing many things, but seeing the connections between them all."