Chuang Tzu tells of a master cook whose cleaver remained sharp for nineteen years because when he carved an ox, he did not cut arbitrarily but respected the natural subdivisions of the animal's bones, muscles, and organs; in response to the barest tap at the right interstices, the parts seemed almost to detach themselves. The Chinese prince, listening to his cook's explanation, said it had taught him how to proceed successfully in life.

Theodor Adorno