The Other Point of View

A student asked Suzuki Roshi why the Japanese make their teacups so thin and delicate that they break easily.
"It's not that they're too delicate," he answered, "but that you don't know how to handle them. You must adjust yourself to the environment, and not vice versa."

(From 'To Shine One Corner of the World: Moments with Shunryu Suzuki: Stories of a Zen Teacher Told by His Students'.)