On Being Useless

A great quote I found attributed to Zhuangzi on Wikipedia, the same man who dreamt he was a butterfly, and woke up pondering if perhaps he was just a butterfly dreaming he was a man.

The mountain trees bring about their own demises [by being useful], burning oil exhausts itself in fire [when people use it in oil lamp]. The fruits of the cinnamon tree can be eaten, hence the trees are cut down; the varnish tree is useful, hence incisions are made in it. Everyone knows the usefulness of being useful, but no one knows the usefulness of being useless.