"Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else"
About this Quote
It reads like startup scripture, which is exactly why it lands: it drags genius down from the pedestal and puts it on an assembly line. Da Vinci, the patron-surfing artist-engineer of Renaissance Italy, didn’t get to treat inspiration as a lightning strike. He worked inside workshops and courts where reputation was fragile, commissions were political, and novelty was currency. The quote’s punch is its casual brutality: “Most fails” isn’t tragedy, it’s the operating system. That plainspoken rhythm makes experimentation sound less like romance and more like hygiene.
The subtext is a quiet demotion of originality. Success isn’t proof of purity; it’s a beacon for imitation. “If it works big, others quickly copy it” is the cynical half-smile: the moment your idea proves itself, it stops being yours culturally. In a world of guilds and apprentices, copying wasn’t theft so much as confirmation. Today it’s algorithms, knockoffs, and trend cycles, but the mechanism is the same. Breakthroughs attract parasites and disciples in equal measure.
So the real status move becomes not inventing once, but staying uncatchable. “The trick is the doing something else” reframes creativity as evasive maneuvering. It’s advice for anyone tempted to milk a hit: don’t camp on your own legacy. Da Vinci’s own career is littered with unfinished masterpieces and restless pivots, which starts to look less like flakiness and more like strategy. The quote isn’t celebrating failure; it’s insisting that repetition is the bigger risk.
The subtext is a quiet demotion of originality. Success isn’t proof of purity; it’s a beacon for imitation. “If it works big, others quickly copy it” is the cynical half-smile: the moment your idea proves itself, it stops being yours culturally. In a world of guilds and apprentices, copying wasn’t theft so much as confirmation. Today it’s algorithms, knockoffs, and trend cycles, but the mechanism is the same. Breakthroughs attract parasites and disciples in equal measure.
So the real status move becomes not inventing once, but staying uncatchable. “The trick is the doing something else” reframes creativity as evasive maneuvering. It’s advice for anyone tempted to milk a hit: don’t camp on your own legacy. Da Vinci’s own career is littered with unfinished masterpieces and restless pivots, which starts to look less like flakiness and more like strategy. The quote isn’t celebrating failure; it’s insisting that repetition is the bigger risk.
Quote Details
| Topic | Startup |
|---|
More Quotes by Leonardo
Add to List
