Robert M. Pirsig

church reason system streangth weakness threat

"The Church of Reason, like all institutions of the System, is based not on individual strength but upon individual weakness. What's really demanded in the Church of Reason is not ability, but inability. Then you are considered teachable. A truly able person is always a threat."

― Robert M. Pirsig (1928-2016)

delusion person insanity religion

“When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called a Religion.”

― Robert M. Pirsig (1928-2016)

improve world own heart head hands outward

“The place to improve the world is first in one's own heart and head and hands, and then work outward from there.”

― Robert M. Pirsig (1928-2016)

truth knock door away looking puzzling

“The truth knocks on the door and you say, "Go away, I'm looking for the truth," and so it goes away. Puzzling.”

― Robert M. Pirsig (1928-2016)

fact infinity hypotheses

“For every fact there is an infinity of hypotheses. ”

― Robert M. Pirsig (1928-2016)

future goal shallow mountain side sustain life top

“To live only for some future goal is shallow. It's the sides of the mountain that sustain life, not the top.”

― Robert M. Pirsig (1928-2016)

Zen top mountain bring

“The only Zen you find on tops of mountains is the Zen you bring there.”

― Robert M. Pirsig (1928-2016)

doctrinal difference hinduism buddhism islam christian reality

“The doctrinal differences between Hinduism and Buddhism and Taoism are not anywhere near as important as doctrinal differences among Christianity and Islam and Judaism. Holy wars are not fought over them because verbalized statements about reality are never presumed to be reality itself.”

― Robert M. Pirsig (1928-2016)

hign country mind adjust thin air uncertainty

“In the high country of the mind one has to become adjusted to the thinner air of uncertainty...”

― Robert M. Pirsig (1928-2016)

absence of quality essence squareness bureaucracy

“Absence of Quality is the essence of squareness.”

― Robert M. Pirsig (1928-2016)

past memory future plan present reality

"The past exists only in our memories, the future only in our plans. The present is our only reality."

― Robert M. Pirsig (1928-2016)

mountain climb effort speed restlessness exhaustion

"Mountains should be climbed with as little effort as possible and without desire. The reality of your own nature should determine the speed. If you become restless, speed up. If you become winded, slow down. You climb the mountain in an equilibrium between restlessness and exhaustion. Then, when you're no longer thinking ahead, each footstep isn't just a means to an end but a unique event in itself. To live only for some future goal is shallow. It's the sides of the mountains which sustain life, not the top."

― Robert M. Pirsig (1928-2016)

care quality internal external aspect person characteristic

"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."

― Robert M. Pirsig (1928-2016)

insanity disease two or three religion

"A person isn't considered insane if there are a number of people who believe the same way. Insanity isn't supposed to be a communicable disease. If one other person starts to believe him, or maybe two or three, then it's a religion."

― Robert M. Pirsig (1928-2016)

car compartment TV passive observer cycle scene contact

"In a car you're always in a compartment, and because you're used to it you don't realize that through that car window everything you see is just more TV. You're a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame. On a cycle the frame is gone. You're completely in contact with it all. You're in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming."

― Robert M. Pirsig (1928-2016)

hard difficult attitude

"Is it hard?' Not if you have the right attitudes. Its having the right attitudes thats hard."

― Robert M. Pirsig (1928-2016)

moral act create space life forward

"One of the most moral acts is to create a space in which life can move forward."

― Robert M. Pirsig (1928-2016)

fanatic shout sun rise tomorrow

"No one is fanatically shouting that the sun is going to rise tomorrow. They know it's going to rise tomorrow."

― Robert M. Pirsig (1928-2016)

stable compund carbon hydogen organize professor motive

"Why, for example, 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? What's the motive?"

― Robert M. Pirsig (1928-2016)

government institution system meaningless structure

"To speak of certain government and establishment institutions as 'the system' is to speak correctly … They are sustained by structural relationships even when they have lost all other meaning and purpose. People arrive at a factory and perform a totally meaningless task from eight to five without question because the structure demands it be that way. There's no villian, no 'mean guy' who wants them to live meaningless lives, it's just that the structure, the system demands it and no one is willing to take on the formidable task of changing the structure just because it is meaningless."

― Robert M. Pirsig (1928-2016)

hurry care

"When you want to hurry something, that means you no longer care about it and want to get on to other things."

― Robert M. Pirsig (1928-2016)

purpose scientific method single truth multiple theory

"The purpose of scientific method is to select a single truth from among many hypothetical truths. That, more than anything else, is what science is all about. But historically science has done exactly the opposite. Through multiplication upon multiplication of facts, information, theories and hypotheses, it is science itself that is leading mankind from single absolute truths to multiple indeterminate, relative ones."

― Robert M. Pirsig (1928-2016)

quality direct experience intellectual abstraction

"Quality is a direct experience independent of and prior to intellectual abstractions."

― Robert M. Pirsig (1928-2016)

purpose scientific method nature misled

"The real purpose of the scientific method is to make sure nature hasn’t misled you into thinking you know something you actually don’t know."

― Robert M. Pirsig (1928-2016)