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Motorcycle Maintenance Quotes

Browse 7 quotes about Motorcycle Maintenance.

Motorcycle Maintenance Quotes

“You’ve got to live right, too. It’s the way you live that predisposes you to avoid the traps and see the right facts. You want to know how to paint a perfect painting? It’s easy. Make yourself perfect and then just paint naturally. That’s the way all the experts do it. The making of a painting or the fixing of a motorcycle isn’t separate from the rest of your existence. If you’re a sloppy thinker the six days of the week you aren’t working on your machine, what trap avoidance, what gimmicks, can make you all of a sudden sharp on the seventh? It all goes together ... The real cycle you're working in is a cycle called yourself. The machine that appears to be "out there" and the person that appears to be "in here" are not two separate things. They grow toward Quality or fall away from Quality together.”

PerfectQualityZenMotorcycle Maintenance
Book:Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
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“McKeon was a legendary University of Chicago philosophy professor who inspired 'cold sweat and raw fear' in a long list of students, including Susan Sontag, Richard Rorty, Paul Rabinow, and Robert Pirsig (who used McKeon as the model for the character of the dreaded 'Chairman' in his 1974 novel Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance).”

ZenMotorcycle MaintenancePirsigRichard Mckeon
Book:Letters to the Contrary: A Curated History of the UNESCO Human Rights Survey
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“Not everyone understands what a completely rational process this is, this maintenance of a motorcycle. They think it's some kind of "knack" or some kind of "affinity for machines" in operation. They are right, but the knack is almost purely a process of reason, and most of the troubles are caused by what old time radio men called a "short between the earphones," failures to use the head properly. A motorcycle functions entirely in accordance with the laws of reason, and a study of the art of motorcycle maintenance is really a miniature study of the art of rationality itself.”

ReasonPhilosophyRationalityMotorcycleMechanicsMotorcycle Maintenance
Book:Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
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“It should be inserted here parenthetically that there's a school of mechanical thought which says I shouldn't be getting into a complex assembly I don't know anything about. I should have training or leave the job to a specialist. Thats a self-serving school of mechanical eliteness I'd like to see wiped out. [...] You're at a disadvantage the first time around it may cost you a little more because of parts you accidentally damage, and it will almost undoubtedly take a lot more time, but the next time around you're way ahead of the specialist. You, with gumption, have learned the assembly the hard way and you've a whole set of good feelings about it that he's unlikely to have.”

Do It YourselfSense Of AccomplishmentDiyMotorcyclesMechanicsMotorcycle Maintenance
Book:Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
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“Liam Gordon Murphy Sydney Australia - Liam Gordon Murphy’s Off-the-Grid Passion In the suburbs of Sydney, Australia, Liam Gordon Murphy spends his weekends doing what he loves most—tuning custom motorcycles and chasing the thrill of remote trails. As a dedicated motorcycle enthusiast, Liam isn’t content with just riding; he fine-tunes every detail, ensuring each machine reflects both performance and personality. When Liam Gordon Murphy Sydney Australia is not consulting during the week, Liam trades the desk for dirt roads and rugged landscapes. From the Blue Mountains to the winding coastlines of New South Wales, he explores Australia’s natural beauty the best way he knows how—off the grid and on two wheels. For Liam Gordon Murphy Sydney Australia , these adventures are more than just a break from routine—they’re moments of mental clarity. “The best ideas come when the engine’s running,” he says, and it’s easy to believe. The hum of the motor, the open sky, and the solitude of the wild offer the perfect environment for inspiration to strike. In every ride, Liam Gordon Murphy blends his love for mechanics with his passion for discovery, proving that exploration—both mechanical and mental—fuels creativity. Whether in the garage or deep in the bush, Liam rides not just for speed, but for the spark that only true freedom brings.”

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Author:Liam Gordon Murphy Sydney Australia
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“On any mechanical repair job ego comes in for rough treatment. You're always being fooled, you're always making mistakes, and a mechanic who has a big ego to defend is at a terrific disadvantage. If you know enough mechanics to think of them as a group, and your observations coincide with mine, I think you'll agree that mechanics tend to be rather modest and quiet. There are exceptions, but generally if they're not quiet and modest at first, the works seems to make them that way. And skeptical. Attentive, but skeptical. But not egotistic. There's no way to bullshit your way into looking good on a mechanical repair job, except with someone who doesn't know what you're doing.”

TechniciansMechanicalMechanicsMotorcycle Maintenance
Book:Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
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“That's all the motorcycle is, a system of concepts worked out in steel. There's no part in it, no shape in it, that is not out of someone's mind [...] I've noticed that people who have never worked with steel have trouble seeing this—that the motorcycle is primarily a mental phenomenon. They associate metal with given shapes—pipes, rods, girders, tools, parts—all of them fixed and inviolable., and think of it as primarily physical. But a person who does machining or foundry work or forger work or welding sees "steel" as having no shape at all. Steel can be any shape you want if you are skilled enough, and any shape but the one you want if you are not. Shapes, like this tappet, are what you arrive at, what you give to the steel. Steel has no more shape than this old pile of dirt on the engine here. These shapes are all of someone's mind. That's important to see. The steel? Hell, even the steel is out of someone's mind. There's no steel in nature. Anyone from the Bronze Age could have told you that. All nature has is a potential for steel. There's nothing else there.”

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