Tolkien wisdom from 'From a letter to Michael Tolkien (6 October, 1940),' from "The Letters of JRR Tolkien"

' ...[In] times of peace we get, perhaps (and naturally and for the purpose rightly), too engrossed in thinking of everything as a preparation or training or a making one fit - for what? At any minute it is what we are and what we are doing, not what we plan to be and do that counts.'