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Robert M. Pirsig

Robert M. Pirsig Quotes

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Famous Robert M. Pirsig Quotes

“The birth of a new fact is always a wonderful thing to experience. It's dualistically called a "discovery" because of the presumption that it has an existence independent of anyone's awareness of it. When it comes along, it always has, at first, a low value. Then, depending on the value-looseness of the observer and the potential quality of the fact, its value increases, either slowly or rapidly, or the value wanes and the fact disappears.”

FirstsFactsValuesExistenceQualityWonderfulAwarenessBirthLowsDiscoveryIncreaseIndependentDisappearWonderful ThingsObserversPresumptionLooseness
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“The way to solve the conflict between human values and technology needs is not to run away from technology. That's impossible. The way to resolve the conflict is to break down the barriers of dualistic thought that prevent a real understanding of what technology is--not an exploitation of nature, but a fusion of nature and the human spirit into a new kind of creation that transcends both.”

WayNeedsHumansKindRealRunningSpiritValuesUnderstandingBreakTechnologyImpossibleCreationConflictSolveBarriersResolveRunning AwayExploitationBreaking DownHuman SpiritFusionHuman Values
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“Any person of any philosophic persuasion who sits on a hot stove will verify without any intellectual argument whatsoever that he is in an undeniably low-quality situation: that the value of his predicament is negative. This low quality is not just a vague, woolly-headed, crypto-religious, metaphysical abstraction. It is an experience. It is not a judgment about an experience. It is not a description of experience. The value itself is an experience. As such it is completely predictable. It is verifiable by anyone who cares to do so.”

PersonsCareValuesReligiousQualitySituationJudgmentIntellectualLowsNegativeArgumentHotDescriptionVaguePersuasionMetaphysicalWho CaresAbstractionPredictablePredicamentsPhilosophicStovesVerify
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“Programs of a political nature are important end products of social quality that can be effective only if the underlying structure of social values is right. The social values are right only if the individual values are right. The place to improve the world is first in one's heart and head and hands, and then work outward from there.”

IfsWorldFirstsHeartImportantEndsHandsPoliticalValuesIndividualSocialQualityProductsProgramStructureWork OutHead And HeartZen Motorcycle MaintenanceSocial Values
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“The only difference between causation and the value is that the word "cause" implies absolute certainty whereas the implied meaning of "value" is one of preference. In classical science it was supposed that the world always works in terms of absolute certainty and that "cause" is the more appropriate word to describe it. But in modern quantum physics all that is changed. Particles "prefer" to do what they do. An individual particle is not absolutely committed to one predictable behavior. What appears to be an absolute cause is just a very consistent pattern of preferences.”

WorldValuesIndividualCausesTermDifferencesModernChangedBehaviorAbsolutesPatternsCommittedPhysicsCertaintyConsistentAppropriateQuantumPreferenceParticlesPredictableQuantum PhysicsImpliedCausationAbsolute Certainty
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“This inner peace of mind occurs on three levels of understanding. Physical quietness seems the easiest to achieve, although there are levels and levels of this too, as attested by the ability of Hindu mystics to live buried alive for many days. Mental quietness, in which one has no wandering thoughts at all, seems more difficult, but can be achieved. But value quietness, in which one has no wandering desires at all but simply performs the acts of his life without desire, that seems the hardest.”

MindSeemsDesireValuesThreeDifficultUnderstandingAbilityLevelsAliveAchieveInner PeaceHardestWanderPeace Of MindBuriedQuietnessWandering Thoughts
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