Of all wastes, the greatest waste that you can commit is the
waste of labor. If you went down in the morning into your dairy,
and found that your youngest child had got down before you,
and that he and the cat were at play together, and that he had
poured out all the cream on the floor for the cat to lap up, you
would scold the child, and be sorry the cream was wasted. But
if, instead of wooden bowls with milk in them, there are golden
bowls with human life in them, and instead of the cat to play
with--the devil to play with; and you yourself the player; and
instead of leaving that golden bowl to be broken by God at the
fountain, you break it in the dust yourself, and pour the human
life out on the ground for the fiend to lick up--is that not
waste?--JOHN RUSKIN.
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