'I think he was a silly little man,' said Councillor Tompkins. 'Worthless, in fact; no use to Society at all.'
'Oh, I don't know,' said Atkins, who was nobody of importance, just a schoolmaster. 'I am not so sure: it depends on what you mean by use.'
'No practical or economic use,' said Tompkins. 'I dare say he could have been made into a serviceable cog of some sort, if you schoolmasters knew your business. But you don't, and so we get useless people of his sort.'
— JRR Tolkien 'Leaf By Niggle'
