Robert Pirsig (September 6, 1928 – April 24, 2017), American writer and philosopher, is the author of the philosophical novels “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values” (1974) and “Lila: An Inquiry into Morals” (1991).
Pirsig's best-known published writing consists of two books. Published in 1974, the better known, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, delves into Pirsig's exploration into the nature of quality. Ostensibly a first-person narrative based on a motorcycle trip he and his young son Chris had taken from Minneapolis to San Francisco, it is an exploration of the underlying metaphysics of Western culture.
He also gives the reader a short summary of the history of philosophy, including his interpretation of the philosophy of Aristotle as part of an ongoing dispute between universalists, admitting the existence of universals, and the Sophists, opposed by Socrates and his student Plato. Pirsig finds in "Quality" a special significance and common ground between Western and Eastern world views.
Pirsig took nearly four years to complete Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, writing most of the book while living above a shoe store in south Minneapolis, while working as a tech writer for Honeywell.
He received 121 rejections before an editor finally accepted the book for publication—and he did so thinking it would never generate a profit. 50,000 copies sold in the first three months, and more than 5 million in the decades since. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance has become the best-selling philosophy book of all time.
In December 2019, the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History acquired Pirsig's 1966 Honda CB77 Super Hawk on which the 1968 ride with his son Chris was taken.
In April 2024 Pirsig's bike went on public display for the first time ever, in the museum's exhibition "America on the Move", along with the book's original manuscript, Pirsig's manual typewriter and his Apple II computer.
Here are some quotes from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig for your consideration:
“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
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“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
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“You are never dedicated to 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 kinds of dogmas or goals, it's always because these dogmas or goals are in doubt.”
― Robert M. Pirsig
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“We’re in such a hurry most of the time we never get much chance to talk. The result is a kind of endless day-to-day shallowness, a monotony that leaves a person wondering years later where all the time went and sorry that it’s all gone. ”
― Robert M. Pirsig
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“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 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.
This leaf has jagged edges. This rock looks loose. From this place the snow is less visible, even though closer. These are things you should notice anyway. To live only for some future goal is shallow. It’s the sides of the mountain which sustain life, not the top. Here’s where things grow.
But of course, without the top you can’t have any sides. It’s the top that defines the sides. So on we go—we have a long way—no hurry—just one step after the next—with a little Chautauqua for entertainment -- .Mental reflection is so much more interesting than TV it’s a shame more people don’t switch over to it. They probably think what they hear is unimportant but it never is.”
― Robert M. Pirsig
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“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
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“Peace of mind produces right values, right values produce right thoughts. Right thoughts produce right actions and right actions produce work which will be a material reflection for others to see of the serenity at the center of it all.”
― Robert M. Pirsig
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“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 the mountain, or in the petals of a flower. To think otherwise is to demean the Buddha - which is to demean oneself.”
― Robert M. Pirsig
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“Sometimes it's a little better to travel than to arrive”
― Robert M. Pirsig
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All quotes from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values, Mariner Books (1974)]
All content of this post is for educational purposes, only.
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