* Meaning of Universal Genius - A polymath may sound like a complicated equation but actually it's a very good thing to be — a person who knows a lot about various fields (also known as a Renaissance man): 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pir_H7kf_JU - Universal Genius (An excerpt from a BBC show)

                                                               

                                    

                                                                    Self Portrait
 

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Leonardo left us a wealth of writings within his notebooks. These notebooks were written in mirror writing to make them more difficult to read.
The topics covered in these encyclopedic notebooks include everything from geography to jokes, passing through philosophy, scientific observations, inventions, etc.

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                                                                 The Inventor


When Leonardo arrived in Venice, the city was at war with the Turks, who had just captured Lepanto. Everyone expected a Turkish assault on Italy. Venice could only be attacked from the sea, so Leonardo considered proposing to the Doges a submarine and wetsuit of his invention, in exchange for half the ransom of the captured Turkish prisoners. After all, Leonardo could see all around him people much less capable than him who had achieved riches and power by being mercenaries. Why should not he do the same? He vividly described his dreams of glory in his notebooks:

“The Great Turk having besieged Venice, the lord Leonardo Da Vinci, at the head of his soldiers, cried out to him: ‘Surrender within four hours or you will be sunk!’ Yet after four hours, the said lord, the Great Turk not having accepted to surrender, sunk his galleys without the latter’s realizing how! And it was a marvel to behold the Turkish vessels sinking into the water with their oarsmen and their cannons, and to hear the cries, curses and blasphemies! The armies of the Serenissima captured many prisoners, and after the battle, the said Leonardo was carried on their shoulders, causing the pride of the Italian nation, and the said lord was greatly honored by the Serenissima, for having been the savior of Venice, and they gave him, as agreed, half the ransoms of the prisoners”

However when he thought about the implications of his invention, he was frightened. What money, what prestige, what desire to destroy an enemy country deserved to deliver such a murderous invention to Doges who were capable of anything in order to serve their own interest? In Venice, one was noble and reigned if one was rich, and men enriched themselves by selling their souls: the Venetian merchants were ready to sell anything to anyone. If it had not been for their cupidity, Constantinople would never have fallen into the hands of the Turks, and now, just turn of events, they were the victims of these latter. If Leonardo gave them such a fearful weapon, they would be capable of selling it. Even if they did not sell it, they would use it in the infamous wars that they waged against the other cities of Italy, and against the world. He decided to destroy his invention, plans and machines, for fear, he writes, that men, because of their evil nature, should use it to assassinate at the bottoms of the seas by destroying vessels and drowning the men on them.

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                                                                       The Humorist
                                                (Jokes invented by da Vinci)

.  It was asked of a painter why, since he made such beautiful figures, which were but dead things, his children were so ugly; to which the painter replied that he made his pictures by day, and his children by night.

.  Vasari tells us how after having painted the faces of Christ and the faithful apostles, Leonardo had stopped without doing that of Judas. The prior of the convent, who considered that the refectory of a convent could not remain indefinitely an art workshop, did not know how he could persuade him to finish and allow him to eat with his monks in the refectory. He complained to Ludovico, who called Leonardo and reproached him for his lateness. Leonardo answered that he was working at least two hours a day on that painting. The duke was reassured. However the prior came back and told his Lordship that Leonardo had not come for over a year, even though only the head of Judas remained to be done. The duke called Leonardo back again. Leonardo told him that the monks did not understand anything about art and that all that remained for him to do was the head of Judas, who was, as his Lordship knew, an utter villain, and as such, needed a face that fit his personality. His Lordship could be assured that Leonardo was currently occupied with looking for that face, roaming the streets, and particularly the places frequented by villains. To that day, he had not yet found what he wanted, aside from the face of that prior, who would have made a very good Judas, but he hesitated about ridiculing him in his own convent. However, if the said prior could not wait, Leonardo could, as for him, paint his portrait for the face of Judas. The duke began to laugh and released Leonardo. Finally, the face of the villain was found, and the prior was left in peace in his convent.

.  A man wishing to prove, by the authority of Pythagoras, that he had formerly been in the world, while another would not let him finish his argument, the first speaker said to the second: "It is by this token that I was formerly here, I remember that you were a miller." The other one, feeling himself stung by these words, agreed that it was true, and that by the same token he remembered that the speaker had been the ass that carried the flour.

.  Franciscan begging Friars are wont, at certain times, to keep fasts, when they do not eat meat in their convents. But on journeys, as they live on charity, they have license to eat whatever is set before them. Now a couple of these friars on their travels, stopped at an inn, in company with a certain merchant, and sat down with him at the same table, where, from the poverty of the inn, nothing was served to them but a small roast chicken. The merchant, seeing this to be but little even for himself, turned to the friars and said: "If my memory serves me, you do not eat any kind of flesh in your convents at this season." At these words the friars were compelled by their rule to admit, without cavil, that this was the truth; so the merchant had his wish, and ate the chicken and the friars did the best they could. After dinner the messmates departed, all three together, and after travelling some distance they came to a river of some width and depth. All three being on foot--the friars by reason of their poverty, and the other from avarice--it was necessary by the custom of company that one of the friars, being barefoot, should carry the merchant on his shoulders: so having given his wooden shoes into his keeping, he took up his man. But it so happened that when the friar had got to the middle of the river, he again remembered a rule of his order, and stopping short, he looked up, like Saint Christopher, to the burden on his back and said: "Tell me, have you any money about you?"--"You know I have", answered the other, "How do you suppose that a Merchant like me should go about otherwise?" "Alack!" cried the friar, "our rules forbid as to carry any money on our persons," and forthwith he dropped him into the water, which the merchant perceived was a facetious way of being revenged on the indignity he had done them; so, with a smiling face, and blushing somewhat with shame, he peaceably endured the revenge.