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Robert M. Pirsig

Robert M. Pirsig Quotes

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Robert M. Pirsig was an American writer best known for his philosophical novel 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.' This work combines philosophical thinking with travel adventure, exploring the concepts of quality, value, and the meaning of life.

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Famous Robert M. Pirsig Quotes

“What's wrong with technology is that it's not connected in any real way with matters of the spirit and of the heart. And so it does blind, ugly things quite by accident and gets hated for that.”

Way Heart Doe Real Matter Spirit Technology Blind Ugly Connected Accidents Hated Zen Motorcycle Maintenance Ugly Things

Author:Robert M. Pirsig

“I really am a recluse. I just enjoy watching the wind blow through the trees. In America someone who sits around and does that is at the bottom of the ladder, but in Japan, say, someone who goes up into the mountains is accorded great respect. I guess I am somewhere in between. I enjoy reclusion: it clears my mind.”

Mind Doe America Enjoy Tree Wind Mountain Bottom Blow Japan Ladders Great Respect Recluse

Author:Robert M. Pirsig

“A thing that has no value does not exist.”

Book:LILA An Inquriry into Morals

Source: LILA An Inquriry into Morals

“Science probes; it does not prove. Imagine Newton's reaction to an objector of his law of gravity who argued that he could not establish a universal law because he had not observed every falling apple, much less proved the law of gravity - there might, after all, be an apple that levitates! Why should a group of simple, stable compounds of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen struggle for billions of years to organize themselves into a professor of chemistry?”

“The sun of quality does not revolve around the subjects and objects of our existence. It does not just passively illuminate them. It is not subordinate to them in any way. It has CREATED them. They are subordinate to IT.”

Way Doe Existence Quality Sun Subjects Objects Subordinates

Author:Robert M. Pirsig

“The Buddha, the Godhead, resides quite as comfortably in the circuits of a digital computer or the gears of a cycle transmission as he does at the top of a mountain or in the petals of a flower. To think otherwise is to demean the Buddha - which is to demean oneself.”

Thinking Doe Flower Mountain Computer Oneself Digital Cycles Gears Circuits Petals Transmission Zen Motorcycle Maintenance

Author:Robert M. Pirsig

“Care and Quality are internal and external aspects of the same thing. A person who sees Quality and feels it as he works is a person who cares. A person who cares about what he sees and does is a person who’s bound to have some characteristic of quality.”

Feels Persons Doe Care Quality Aspect Bounds Characteristics Internals Who Cares

Author:Robert M. Pirsig

“Cultivate peace of mind which does not separate one's self from one's surroundings. When that is done successfully, then everything else follows naturally.”

Mind Doe Self Done Inner Peace Peace Of Mind Surroundings

Author:Robert M. Pirsig

“When you live in the shadow of insanity, the appearance of another mind that thinks and talks as yours does is something close to a blessed event.”

Thinking Mind Doe Events Shadow Blessed Appearance Insanity Survivor Zen Motorcycle Maintenance

Author:Robert M. Pirsig

“Cliches and stereotypes such as "beatnik" or "hippie" have been invented for the antitechnologists, the antisystem people, and will continue to be. But one does not convert individuals into mass people with the simple coining of a mass term.”

People Doe Has Beens Individual Term Simple Mass Stereotype Cliche Hippie Beatnik

Book:Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

Source: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

“A culture that supports the dominance of social values over biological values is an absolutely superior culture to one that does not, and a culture that supports the dominance of intellectual values over social values is absolutely superior to one that does not.”

Doe Values Culture Social Support Intellectual Superiors Dominance Social Values

Book:LILA An Inquriry into Morals

Source: LILA An Inquriry into Morals

About the Author

Born: September 6, 1928
Died: April 24, 2017
Known for: Writer
Quotes: 303

Related Topics

Zen Motorcycle Maintenance Ifs People Quality Mind Thinking Philosophy Knows Way Zen World Values Real Intellectual Doe Rationality Reality Social Motorcycle Patterns

Popular Topics

People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

Books & Sources

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into ValuesRelated source material

LILA An Inquriry into MoralsRelated source material

Lila: An Inquiry Into MoralsRelated source material

Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance and Siddhartha 2 Books Collection SetRelated source material

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