Only social patterns can control biological patterns, and the instrument of conversation between society and biology is not words. The instrument of conversation between society and biology has always been a policeman or a soldier and his gun. Robert M. Pirsig More Quotes by Robert M. Pirsig More Quotes From Robert M. Pirsig 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 uniquemeanreality 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 atheistgodpeople 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 who-caresqualitydoe The past exists only in our memories, the future only in our plans. The present is our only reality. Robert M. Pirsig futureinspirationalmemories The place to improve the world is first in one's own heart and head and hands. Robert M. Pirsig changeleadershipsuccess 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 cargonemoving My favorite piece of technical writing: Assembly of Japanese bicycle require great peace of mind. Robert M. Pirsig mindwritingpeace 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 futurewisdomlife Even though quality cannot be defined, you know what quality is. Robert M. Pirsig definedqualityknows 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. Robert M. Pirsig blessedinsanitythinking Anxiety is sort of the opposite of ego. You're so sure you'll do everything wrong you're afraid to do anything at all. It results from over-motivation- leading to errors that lead to an underestimation of one's self. Work out your anxieties on paper and read. This calms the mind. Robert M. Pirsig motivationhumilityself Making an art out of your technological life is the way to solve the problem of technology...Art is anything that you can do well. Anything that you can do with Quality. Robert M. Pirsig creativitytechnologyart The test of the machine is the satisfaction it gives you. There isn't any other test. If the machine produces tranquility it's right. If it disturbs you it's wrong until either the machine or your mind is changed. Robert M. Pirsig technologymindgiving The only Zen you can find on the tops of mountains is the Zen you bring up there. Robert M. Pirsig encouraginghikingwisdom One of the most moral acts is to create a space in which life can move forward. Robert M. Pirsig spacemoving-forwardmoving Art is anything you can do well. Anything you can do with quality. Robert M. Pirsig wellsqualityart Any effort that has self-glorification as its final endpoint is bound to end in disaster. Robert M. Pirsig effortfailureself Mental patterns do not originate out of inorganic nature. They originate out of society, which originates out of inorganic nature. And, as anthropologists know so well, what a mind thinks is as dominated by biological patterns as social patterns are dominated by biological patterns and as biological patterns are dominated by inorganic patterns. There is no direct scientific connection between mind and matter. As the atomic scientist, Niels Bohr, said, "We are suspended in language." Our intellectual description of nature is always culturally derived. Robert M. Pirsig intellectualmindthinking You are never dedicated to do something you have complete confidence in. No one is fanatically shouting that the sun is going to rise tomorrow. They know it's going to rise tomorrow. When people are fanatically dedicated to political or religious faiths or any other kind of dogmas or goals, it's always because these dogmas or goals are in doubt. Robert M. Pirsig religiouspeopleknowledge Is it hard?' Not if you have the right attitudes. Its having the right attitudes thats hard. Robert M. Pirsig hardifsattitude
