Zen Motorcycle Maintenance Quotes by Robert M. Pirsig, Austin Peck and many others.
In the temple of science are many mansions … and various indeed are they that dwell therein and the motives that have led them thither.
What we think of as reality is a continuous synthesis of elements from a fixed hierarchy of a priori concepts and the ever changing data of the senses.
Traditional scientific method has always been at the very best, 20 – 20 hindsight. It’s good for seeing where you’ve been. It’s good for testing the truth of what you think you know, but it can’t tell you where you ought to go.
Other people can talk about how to expand the destiny of mankind. I just want to talk about how to fix a motorcycle. I think that what I have to say has more lasting value.
Quality tends to fan out like waves.
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.
I think metaphysics is good if it improves everyday life; otherwise forget it.
To an experienced Zen Buddhist, asking if one believes in Zen or one believes in the Buddha, sounds a little ludicrous, like asking if one believes in air or water. Similarly Quality is not something you believe in, Quality is something you experience.
That’s all the motorcycle is, a system of concepts worked out in steel.
Just put one foot in front of the other.
You want to know how to paint a perfect painting? It’s easy. Make yourself perfect and then just paint naturally.
The real University… has no specific location. It owns no property, pays no salaries, and receives no material dues… The real University is a state of mind. It is that great heritage of rational thought that has been brought down to us through the centuries.
…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.
The best students always are flunking. Every good teacher knows that.
There’s so much talk about the system. And so little understanding.
The idea that the majority of students attend a university for an education independent of the degree and grades is a hypocrisy everyone is happier not to expose. Occasionally some students do arrive for an education but rote and mechanical nature of the institution soon converts them to a less idealic attitude
If your mind is truly, profoundly stuck, then it might be much better off than when it was loaded with ideas
