Ludovico Buonarroti.

Michelangelo's father. He was a wealthy man. He had no understanding of the divinity in his son, so he beat him. No child of his was going to use his hands for a living. So Michelangelo learned not to use his hands. Years later, a visiting prince came into Michelangelo's studio and found the master staring at a single 18-foot block of marble. Then he knew the rumors were true that Michelangelo had come in every day for the past four months, stared at the marble, and gone home for his supper. So the Prince asked the obvious, "What are you doing?" And Michelangelo turned around and looked at him and whispered,

"Sto lavorando". "I'm working."

Three years later, that block of marble was the Statue of David.