Four maxims in red chalk
Moral aphorisms on ingratitude, friendship, fear and truth
Four short maxims are jotted here in red chalk (sanguigna) in Leonardo's mirror-script. They counsel that the memory of good deeds is fragile before ingratitude, that a friend should be reproved in private and praised in public, that whoever fears dangers is not destroyed by them, and that one should not lie about the past.
On this page
On ingratitude and friendship
The first two maxims warn that the memory of benefits received grows fragile before ingratitude, and advise reproving a friend in secret while praising him openly.
On fear and truthfulness
The remaining lines hold that whoever fears dangers does not perish by them, and enjoin the reader not to be a liar about the past.