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“Just as iron rusts unless it is used, and water putrifies or, in cold, turns to ice, so our intellect spoils unless it is kept in use.”

— Leonardo da Vinci

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Live wording check · 2026-10-22

Just as iron rusts unless it is used, and water putrifies or, in cold, turns to ice, so our intellect spoils unless it is kept in use. Citation: Variant: Just as iron rusts from disuse... even so does inaction spoil the intellect. Listed on https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci (CC BY-SA)
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Title
Wikiquote: Leonardo da Vinci
Type
Wikiquote (CC BY-SA) · Secondary source
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Vinci, Leonardo da. (n.d.). Wikiquote: Leonardo da Vinci. https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci

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Provenance: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci