The lover is moved by the beloved object as the senses are by sensible objects; and they unite and become one and the same thing. The work is the first thing born of this union; if the thing loved is base the lover becomes base.
When the thing taken into union is perfectly adapted to that which receives it, the result is delight and pleasure and satisfaction.
When that which loves is united to the thing beloved it can rest there; when the burden is laid down it finds rest there.
Taken from The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci edited by Jean Paul Richter, 1880.