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Your lordship, only worldly light in this age of ours, you can never be pleased with another man's work for there is no man who resembles you, nor one to equal you ... It grieves me greatly that I cannot recapture my past, so as to longer be at your service. As it is, I can only offer you my future, which is short, for I am too old ... That is all I have to say. Read my heart for 'the quill cannot express good will.'

Michelangelo Buonarroti#1

AgeCommunicationHeartService

About this quote

What does it mean?
A humble letter to a patron admitting age limits service but offering future hope and heart.
In plain terms
He apologizes for being too old to serve but offers his heart.
What can you take from it?
Communicate limitations with sincerity.

Where it applies

  • correspondence
  • client relations
  • aging

Putting it to work

  • communicate limitations
  • offer sincerity

Questions to consider

  • How do you handle limitations?
  • What can you still offer?

Another view

Patrons may not value heart over work.

More from Michelangelo Buonarroti

  1. Ancora Imparo

    Permalink to quote #2
  2. Beauty is the purgation of superfluities.

    Permalink to quote #3
  3. I was never the kind of painter or sculptor who kept a shop.

    Permalink to quote #4

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