Ever since I was a teenager I have been fascinated with Michelangelo. A brilliant painter, sculptor, and architect, Michelangelo crafted many masterpieces, including the beautiful statue of “David,” and the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, which I plan to visit soon 🙂

Michelangelo

Michelangelo was one of a kind. A brilliant man who left behind so much beauty and so much wisdom. And today I would like to share with you 26 of the many powerful lessons we can all learn from this brilliant man.

Hope you enjoy:)

26 Life-Changing Lessons to Learn from Michelangelo

1. Take care of your life.

“So take care of your life and take notice and be observant, for the number of widows is always far greater than the number of widowers.” ~ Michelangelo

2. Do not be concerned that you might set a target too high and fail. Be concerned that you will set it too low and succeed.

“The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” ~ Michelangelo

3. Always give your best.

“I couldn’t give you something mediocre even if that’s all you asked for.” ~ Michelangelo

4. Carve away everything that no longer serves you.

“The idea is there locked inside. All you have to do is remove the excess stone. Michelangelo

“I created a vision of David in my mind and simply carved away everything that was not David.”

5. Free Yourself of yourself.

“Lord free me of myself, so I can please you!” ~ Michelangelo

“I live and love in God’s peculiar light.”

6. You are still learning.

“I am still learning.” ~ Michelangelo

7. To become a superior talent you need to be eccentric.

“I dare affirm that any artist… who has nothing singular, eccentric, or at least reputed to be so, in his person, will never become a superior talent.” ~ Michelangelo

8. Critique by creating.

“Why do you send fools to judge my work?” ~ Michelangelo

9. Genius is eternal patience.

“Genius is eternal patience.” ~ Michelangelo

10. Nothing makes the soul as pure as the endeavor to create something perfect.

“For those who feel it, nothing makes the soul so religious and pure as the endeavor to create something perfect; for God is perfection, and whoever strives after it, is striving after something divine. True painting is only the image of the perfection of God, a shadow of the pencil with which he paints, a melody, a striving after harmony.” ~ Michelangelo

11. Confide in yourself.

“The promises of this world are, for the most part, vain phantoms; and to confide in one’s self, and become something of worth and value is the best and safest course. ” ~ Michelangelo

12. God did not create us to abandon us.

“Do not fret, for God did not create us to abandon us.” ~ Michelangelo

13. Your gifts lie in the place where your values, passions, and strengths meet.

“Your gifts lie in the place where your values, passions, and strengths meet. Discovering that place is the first step toward sculpting your masterpiece, Your Life.” ~ Michelangelo

14. Mastery takes hard work.

“If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all.” ~ Michelangelo

15. The foot is nobler than the shoe, and skin more beautiful than the garment with which it is clothed.

“What spirit is so empty and blind, that it cannot recognize the fact that the foot is more noble than the shoe, and skin more beautiful than the garment with which it is clothed?” ~ Michelangelo

16. Souls will never ascend to Heaven until the sight of beauty lifts them there.

“Souls will never ascend to Heaven until the sight of beauty lifts them there.” ~ Michelangelo

17. There is no greater harm than that of time wasted.

“There is no greater harm than that of time wasted.” ~ Michelangelo

18. Art is a jealous thing.

“Art is a jealous thing; it requires the whole and entire man.” ~ Michelangelo

19. Poets and painters have the power to dare.

“Poets and painters have the power to dare, I mean to dare to do whatever they may approve of…”

20. You are as great as your horizons.

“Your greatness is measured by your horizons.”

21. You were created with a divine purpose.

“Many believe – and I believe – that I have been designated for this work by God. In spite of my old age, I do not want to give it up; I work out of love for God and I put all my hope in Him.”

22. What you give is what you will receive.

“As you give out, so shall you receive.”

23. The peace you seek is within yourself.

“Led by long years to my last hours, too late, O world, I know your joys for what they are. You promise a peace which is not yours to give and the repose that dies before it is born. The years of fear and shame to which Heaven now set a term, renew nothing in me but the old sweet error in which, living overlong a man kills his soul with no gain to his body. I say and I know having put it to the proof, that he has the better part in Heaven whose death falls nearest his birth.”

24. Gazing on beautiful things acts on your soul.

“Gazing on beautiful things acts on my soul.”

25. Painters are not in any way unsociable through pride.

“Painters are not in any way unsociable through pride, but either because they find few pursuits equal to painting, or in order not to corrupt themselves with the useless conversation of idle people, and debase the intellect from the lofty imaginations in which they are always absorbed.”

26. Fear not. Life and death, both come from the hand of the same master.

“If we have been pleased with life, we should not be displeased with death, since it comes from the hand of the same master.”

And these are the 26 powerful lessons to learn from Michelangelo. I love all of them but in this moment, number 1, 4, 12 and 23 are my favorite. What is your favorite? You can share your comment in the comment section below?

Bonus:

~love, Luminita💫

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