Useful Work versus Useless Toil -- William Morris

"It is assumed by most people nowadays that all work is useful, and by most well-to-do people that all work is desirable. Most people, well-to-do or not, believe that, even when a man is doing work which appears to be useless, he is earning his livelihood by it -- he is 'employed', as the phrase goes .... "

extracted from "Useful Work versus Useless Toil" by William Morris (1834-1896)

It is probably safe to say that 124 years since William Morris gave the lecture to the Hampstead Liberal Club in 1884, the world has invented more useless work and very few have succeeded in escaping the Rat Race. Unnecessary consumption, litigation, advertising, economic 'growth', have see to it that the human race is spending more and more time working and less and less time thinking why they are toiling ....