Brunelleschi was not only the initiator of Renaissance architecture. To him, it seems, is due another momentous discovery in the field of art, which also dominated the art of subsequent centuries - that of perspective. We have seen that even the Greeks, who understood foreshadowing, and the Hellenistic painters, who were skilled in creating the illusion of depth, did not know the mathematical laws by which objects appear to diminish in size as they recede from us. We remember that no artist could have drawn the famous avenue of trees leading back into the picture until it vanishes into the horizon. It was Brunelleschi who gave artists mathematical means of solving this problem; and the excitement which this caused among his painter-friends must have been immense. -
How to Take Smart Notes, Sonke Ahrens page 128
Thinking and creativity can flourish under restricted conditions and there are plenty of studies to back that claim (cf. stokes 2021; Rheinberger 1997). The scientific revolution started with the standardization and controlling of experiments which made them comparable and repeatable. Or think of poetry: It imposes restrictions in terms of rhythm, syllables or rhymes. Haikus give the poet very little room for formal variations but that doesn’t mean they are equally limited in term of poetic expressiveness. On the contrary: It is the strict formalism that allows them to transcend time and culture. -
Mastery, Robert Greene, page 84
Let us state it in the following way: At your birth a seed is planted. That seed is your uniqueness. It wants to grow, transform itself, and flower to its full potential. It has a natural assertive energy to it. Your life’s task is to have a destiny to fulfill. The stronger you feel and maintain it - as a force , a voice, or in whatever form - the greater your chance for fulfilling this Life’s Task and achieving mastery.
Fernando Pessoa
Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, publisher, and philosopher
1888 - 1935
