[Said the Madman of Ch'u to Confucius:] "Phoenix, phoenix, how has virtue failed! The future you cannot wait for; the past you cannot pursue. When the world has the Way, the sage succeeds, when the world is without the Way, the sage survives... Dangerous, dangerous -- to mark off the ground and run! Fool, fool -- don't spoil my walking! I walk a crooked way -- don't step on my feet. The mountains trees do themselves harm; the grease in the torch burns itself up. The cinnamon can be eaten and so it gets cut down; the lacquer tree can be used and so it gets hacked apart. All men know the uses of the useful, but nobody knows the use of the useless!"