Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water loses its purity. — Leonardo da Vinci · Smartyfair

Iron rusts from disuse; stagnant water loses its purity.

Leonardo da Vinci1452–1519 · artist · 1400s-1500s ItalyLeonardo da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance genius who painted the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper while also filling notebooks with inventive sketches of flying machines, anatomy, and engineering ideas centuries ahead of his time.4 quotes

Source foundPerseveranceWisdomAncient

In plain words

Things left unused go bad. So do people who stop trying.

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Where these words come from

How sure this is: 85% sureThese words were traced back to where they first appeared. That source is listed below.
What turned up: The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, Richter's translation (1883), Prolegomena and General Introduction to the Book on Painting; Wikiquote-sourced.
Work: The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (Richter ed.)
Occasion: 1883 · a maxim on the value of constant use and practice
Sources checked: en.wikiquote.orgChecked using claude-sonnet-5, 21 August 2026Sourced section, cited to Notebooks (1883), Section I

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