Leonardo’s statement suggests that nature contains causes, processes and possibilities that human experience has not yet revealed. What has been observed represents only part of what may exist or occur. The absence of direct experience therefore does not necessarily show that a natural phenomenon is impossible.

The remark also points to the limits of empirical knowledge. Observation is central to understanding nature, but experience is necessarily incomplete because people encounter only a limited range of conditions and events. Natural causes may remain undiscovered until circumstances allow their effects to become visible or investigation brings them to light.

The quote can be applied to scientific enquiry as a reminder to distinguish between what has not been observed and what cannot occur. It encourages openness to unexplored explanations while still requiring evidence before particular claims are accepted as established knowledge.