Blowsy Sequins And Feathery Boas

This is a basic principle of living organisms. Life is profligate; life is a spendthrift; life can persist only by living beyond its means. You make things in extravagant abundance, and then you shave back, throw away, kill of the excess... Yes, its wasteful, yes, it seems stupid to make so much and then immediately destroy nearly all of it, but would nature get anywhere if she were stingy? Would will expect to see her flagrant diversity, her blowsy sequins and feathery boas, if she weren't simply and reliably too much?

- Natalie Angier
'Woman: An Intimate Geography' (2-3)

This quote is particulary apt for me at the moment, reminding me that I need to create more than I can reasonably use, to have some spare, to not be too tight with my resources, to leave a little something to slash and burn without losing the entire crop. The more you spend the more you gain. Reading this makes me feel lucky to be so big.