---
title: "Best Robert M. Pirsig Wisdom"
description: "Robert M. Pirsig was an American writer and philosopher. He wrote Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974) and Lila (1991), and later co‑authore..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b018/author-robert-m-pirsig-817.jpg"
---

![Portrait of Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b018/author-robert-m-pirsig-817.jpg)

# Robert M. Pirsig

(1928–2017)   Philosopher   United States

 **351** quotes in **1197** categories

Rate this collection:  ★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

Robert M. Pirsig was a philosopher from the United States, best known for *Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values*.

## Quick Facts About Robert M. Pirsig

Born September 6, 1928

Died April 24, 2017

Nationality United States

Profession Philosopher

Notable works Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

Known for Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Lila: An Inquiry into Morals

## About Robert M. Pirsig

His full name was Robert Maynard Pirsig. The books explore questions about values, quality, and how people understand the world, mixing philosophy with everyday stories.

## Awards & Honors

Guggenheim Fellowship

##  Quotes by Robert M. Pirsig · Page 8

> [To live only for some future goal is shallow. It's the sides of the mountain that sustain life, not the top.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/to-live-only-for-some-future-goal-is-shallow-it-s-the-sides-of-the/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Future](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/future/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/569/robert-m-pirsig-817_future_to-live-only-for-some-future-goal-is-sha_299937.png)

> [You have to remember, that insane people can do some horrors themselves. I had committed no crime, though. I hadn't shot anybody.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/you-have-to-remember-that-insane-people-can-do-some-horrors/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Can do](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/can-do/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/186/robert-m-pirsig-817_can-do_you-have-to-remember-that-insane-people_287908.png)

> [“Between the lines Phaedrus read no doubts, no sense of awe, only the eternal smugness of the professional academician.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/between-the-lines-phaedrus-read-no-doubts-no-sense-of-awe-only-the/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Smugness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/smugness/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2f4/robert-m-pirsig-817_smugness_between-the-lines-phaedrus-read-no-doubt_2304205.png)

> [You want to know how to paint a perfect painting? It's easy. Make yourself perfect and then just paint naturally.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/you-want-to-know-how-to-paint-a-perfect-painting-it-s-easy-make/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Artist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/artist/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd4/robert-m-pirsig-817_artist_you-want-to-know-how-to-paint-a-perfect_861828.png)

> [Today we are living in an intellectual and technological paradise and a moral and social nightmare because the intellectual level of evolution,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/today-we-are-living-in-an-intellectual-and-technological-paradise-and/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Biology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/biology/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ca2/robert-m-pirsig-817_biology_today-we-are-living-in-an-intellectual-a_2042898.png)

> [Why, for example, should a group of simple, stable compounds of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen struggle for billions of years to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/why-for-example-should-a-group-of-simple-stable-compounds-of-carbon/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Billions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/billions/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eed/robert-m-pirsig-817_billions_why-for-example-should-a-group-of-simple_2114469.jpg)

> [“If you get careless or go romanticizing scientific information, giving it a flourish here and there, Nature will soon make a complete…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/if-you-get-careless-or-go-romanticizing-scientific-information-giving/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Fool](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fool/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d90/robert-m-pirsig-817_fool_if-you-get-careless-or-go-romanticizing_529140.png)

> [I really don't mind dying because I figure I haven't wasted this life. Up until my first book was published I had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/i-really-don-t-mind-dying-because-i-figure-i-haven-t-wasted-this-life/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Book](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/book/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0c1/robert-m-pirsig-817_book_i-really-don-t-mind-dying-because-i-figu_657958.png)

> [The ultimate test's always your own serenity. If you don't have this when you start and maintain it while you're working you're…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/the-ultimate-test-s-always-your-own-serenity-if-you-don-t-have-this/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Ifs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bc0/robert-m-pirsig-817_ifs_the-ultimate-test-s-always-your-own-sere_1946241.png)

> [“A finely tempered nature longs to escape from his noisy cramped surroundings into the silence of the high mountains where the eye…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/a-finely-tempered-nature-longs-to-escape-from-his-noisy-cramped/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/einstein/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1f4/robert-m-pirsig-817_einstein_a-finely-tempered-nature-longs-to-escape_2541253.png)

> [Socrates is not just expounding noble ideas in a vacuum. He is in the middle of a war between those who think…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/socrates-is-not-just-expounding-noble-ideas-in-a-vacuum-he-is-in-the/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Absolutes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/absolutes/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d1b/robert-m-pirsig-817_absolutes_socrates-is-not-just-expounding-noble-id_1846810.png)

> [What I mean (and everybody else means) by the word 'quality' cannot be broken down into subjects and predicates. This is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/what-i-mean-and-everybody-else-means-by-the-word-quality-cannot-be/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Broken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/broken/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac5/robert-m-pirsig-817_broken_what-i-mean-and-everybody-else-means-by_3163022.png)

> [The mythos-over-logos argument points to the fact that each child is born as ignorant as any caveman. What keeps the world from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/the-mythos-over-logos-argument-points-to-the-fact-that-each-child-is/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Accepting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/accepting/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/967/robert-m-pirsig-817_accepting_the-mythos-over-logos-argument-points-to_2653804.jpg)

> [“The old channels cannot contain it and in its search for new ones there seems to be growing havoc and destruction along…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/the-old-channels-cannot-contain-it-and-in-its-search-for-new-ones/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Dig deep](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dig-deep/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/651/robert-m-pirsig-817_dig-deep_the-old-channels-cannot-contain-it-and-i_2777061.png)

> [“I think that if we are going to reform the world, and make it a better place to live in, the way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/i-think-that-if-we-are-going-to-reform-the-world-and-make-it-a-better/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Better place](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/better-place/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/93a/robert-m-pirsig-817_better-place_i-think-that-if-we-are-going-to-reform-t_418766.png)

> [“The material object of observation, the bicycle or rotisserie, can’t be right or wrong. Molecules are molecules. They don’t have any ethical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/the-material-object-of-observation-the-bicycle-or-rotisserie-can-t-be/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Computers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/computers/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4aa/robert-m-pirsig-817_computers_the-material-object-of-observation-the-b_667003.jpg)

> [“Mountains should be climbed with as little effort as possible and without desire. The reality of your own nature should determine the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/mountains-should-be-climbed-with-as-little-effort-as-possible-and-2/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Climb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/climb/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/38e/robert-m-pirsig-817_climb_mountains-should-be-climbed-with-as-litt_1044461.jpg)

> [“The law of gravity and gravity itself did not exist before Isaac Newton." ...and what that means is that that law of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/the-law-of-gravity-and-gravity-itself-did-not-exist-before-isaac/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Law](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/law/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/01b/robert-m-pirsig-817_law_the-law-of-gravity-and-gravity-itself-di_569592.jpg)

> [“An alternative — and better — definition of reality can be found by naming some of its components: air, sunlight, wind, water,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/an-alternative-and-better-definition-of-reality-can-be-found-by/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Air conditioning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/air-conditioning/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b9b/robert-m-pirsig-817_air-conditioning_an-alternative-and-better-definition-of_1890915.jpg)

> [Mental patterns do not originate out of inorganic nature. They originate out of society, which originates out of inorganic nature. And, as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/mental-patterns-do-not-originate-out-of-inorganic-nature-they/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Connections](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/connections/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/41b/robert-m-pirsig-817_connections_mental-patterns-do-not-originate-out-of_1613342.jpg)

> [The sun of quality does not revolve around the subjects and objects of our existence. It does not just passively illuminate them.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/the-sun-of-quality-does-not-revolve-around-the-subjects-and-objects/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Doe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doe/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d82/robert-m-pirsig-817_doe_the-sun-of-quality-does-not-revolve-arou_1441735.png)

> [Man is not the source of all things, as the subjective idealists would say. Nor is he the passive observer of all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/man-is-not-the-source-of-all-things-as-the-subjective-idealists-would/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[All things](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/all-things/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f32/robert-m-pirsig-817_all-things_man-is-not-the-source-of-all-things-as-t_1035833.jpg)

> [You are never dedicated to do something you have complete confidence in. No one is fanatically shouting that the sun is going…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/you-are-never-dedicated-to-do-something-you-have-complete-confidence/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Confidence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/confidence/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d01/robert-m-pirsig-817_confidence_you-are-never-dedicated-to-do-something_729904.jpg)

> [The test of the machine is the satisfaction it gives you. There isn't any other test. If the machine produces tranquility it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/the-test-of-the-machine-is-the-satisfaction-it-gives-you-there-isn-t/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Changed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/changed/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a1a/robert-m-pirsig-817_changed_the-test-of-the-machine-is-the-satisfact_2813032.png)

> [The study of the art of motorcycle maintenance is really a miniature study of the art of rationality itself. Working on a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/the-study-of-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-is-really-a-miniature/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Achieve](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/achieve/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab5/robert-m-pirsig-817_achieve_the-study-of-the-art-of-motorcycle-maint_608548.png)

> [“In a sense, he said, it’s the student’s choice of Quality that defines him. People differ about Quality, not because Quality is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/in-a-sense-he-said-it-s-the-student-s-choice-of-quality-that-defines/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b70/robert-m-pirsig-817_education_in-a-sense-he-said-it-s-the-student-s-ch_912308.png)

> [“I have seen these marshes a thousand times, yet each time they're new. It's wrong to call them benign. You could just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/i-have-seen-these-marshes-a-thousand-times-yet-each-time-they-re-new/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Marshes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/marshes/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ae/robert-m-pirsig-817_marshes_i-have-seen-these-marshes-a-thousand-tim_2690089.jpg)

> [The idea that the majority of students attend a university for an education independent of the degree and grades is a hypocrisy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/the-idea-that-the-majority-of-students-attend-a-university-for-an/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Attitude](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/attitude/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fd2/robert-m-pirsig-817_attitude_the-idea-that-the-majority-of-students-a_2930654.jpg)

> [“Or winters when the sloughs were frozen over and dead and i could walk across the ice and snow between the dead…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/or-winters-when-the-sloughs-were-frozen-over-and-dead-and-i-could/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Flower](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flower/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eeb/robert-m-pirsig-817_flower_or-winters-when-the-sloughs-were-frozen_1008542.png)

> [“You see things vacationing on a motorcycle in a way that is completely different from any other. In a car you’re always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/you-see-things-vacationing-on-a-motorcycle-in-a-way-that-is/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Motorcycle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/motorcycle/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fb4/robert-m-pirsig-817_motorcycle_you-see-things-vacationing-on-a-motorcyc_1226417.png)

> [Rules of Order state that ... No minority has a right to block a majority from conducting the legal business of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/rules-of-order-state-that-no-minority-has-a-right-to-block-a-majority/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Attempting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/attempting/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/228/robert-m-pirsig-817_attempting_rules-of-order-state-that-no-minority-ha_3179218.jpg)

> [Of course, the laws of science contain no matter and have no energy either and therefore do not exist except in people's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/of-course-the-laws-of-science-contain-no-matter-and-have-no-energy/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Believe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/believe/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7a2/robert-m-pirsig-817_believe_of-course-the-laws-of-science-contain-no_1452383.png)

> [“Yah-da, yah-da, yah-da, yah-da, yah, carburetor, gear ratio, compression, yah-da-yah, piston, plugs, intake, yah-da-yah, on and on and on. That is the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/yah-da-yah-da-yah-da-yah-da-yah-carburetor-gear-ratio-compression-yah/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Classic Mode](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/classic-mode-5430331/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/060/robert-m-pirsig-817_classic-mode_yah-da-yah-da-yah-da-yah-da-yah-carburet_766911.png)

> [“It’s an old split. Like the one between art and art history. One does it and the other talks about how it’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/it-s-an-old-split-like-the-one-between-art-and-art-history-one-does/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e3b/robert-m-pirsig-817_art_it-s-an-old-split-like-the-one-between-a_1803567.jpg)

> [Laws of nature are human inventions, like ghosts. Laws of logic, or mathematics are also human inventions, like ghosts. The whole blessed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/laws-of-nature-are-human-inventions-like-ghosts-laws-of-logic-or/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Blessed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/blessed/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9da/robert-m-pirsig-817_blessed_laws-of-nature-are-human-inventions-like_3113713.png)

> [“However, it should in no way be associated with that great body of factual information relating to orthodox Zen Buddhist practice. It’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/however-it-should-in-no-way-be-associated-with-that-great-body-of/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Buddhism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/buddhism/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d16/robert-m-pirsig-817_buddhism_however-it-should-in-no-way-be-associate_1393541.png)

> [Who really can face the future? All you can do is project from the past, even when the past shows that such…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/who-really-can-face-the-future-all-you-can-do-is-project-from-the/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Faces](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faces/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dae/robert-m-pirsig-817_faces_who-really-can-face-the-future-all-you-c_2319196.png)

> [“So green this summer and so fresh. There are white and gold daisies among the grass in front of an old wire…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/so-green-this-summer-and-so-fresh-there-are-white-and-gold-daisies/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Daisies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/daisies/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6c/robert-m-pirsig-817_daisies_so-green-this-summer-and-so-fresh-there_2915795.png)

> [It's paradoxical that where people are the most closely crowded, in the big coastal cities in the East and West, the loneliness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/it-s-paradoxical-that-where-people-are-the-most-closely-crowded-in/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Bigs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bigs/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d90/robert-m-pirsig-817_bigs_it-s-paradoxical-that-where-people-are-t_1345157.png)

> [“Of the value traps, the most widespread and pernicious is value rigidity. This is an inability to revalue what one sees because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/of-the-value-traps-the-most-widespread-and-pernicious-is-value/)

[Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/)

[Life wisdom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life-wisdom/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b5c/robert-m-pirsig-817_life-wisdom_of-the-value-traps-the-most-widespread-a_125425.png)

## Robert M. Pirsig by topic

[Quality (33)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/quality/robert-m-pirsig/) [Zen motorcycle maintenance (32)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/zen-motorcycle-maintenance/robert-m-pirsig/) [People (30)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/robert-m-pirsig/) [Mind (26)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/robert-m-pirsig/) [Life (23)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/robert-m-pirsig/) [Time (22)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/robert-m-pirsig/) [Psychology (22)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/robert-m-pirsig/) [Technology (19)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/technology/robert-m-pirsig/) [Science (19)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/robert-m-pirsig/) [Way (18)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way/robert-m-pirsig/) [Philosophy (18)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy/robert-m-pirsig/) [Nature (18)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/robert-m-pirsig/) [Ifs (18)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/robert-m-pirsig/) [World (17)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/robert-m-pirsig/) [Thinking (17)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/robert-m-pirsig/) [Inspirational (17)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/robert-m-pirsig/) [Mountain (16)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mountain/robert-m-pirsig/) [Motorcycle (16)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/motorcycle/robert-m-pirsig/) [Values (15)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/values/robert-m-pirsig/) [Rationality (12)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rationality/robert-m-pirsig/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "ItemList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/#itemlist",
            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig Quotes",
            "numberOfItems": 40,
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "To live only for some future goal is shallow. It's the sides of the mountain that sustain life, not the top.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/to-live-only-for-some-future-goal-is-shallow-it-s-the-sides-of-the/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/569/robert-m-pirsig-817_future_to-live-only-for-some-future-goal-is-sha_299937.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/569/robert-m-pirsig-817_future_to-live-only-for-some-future-goal-is-sha_299937.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/569/robert-m-pirsig-817_future_to-live-only-for-some-future-goal-is-sha_299937.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“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",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "You have to remember, that insane people can do some horrors themselves. I had committed no crime, though. I hadn't shot anybody. Yet.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/you-have-to-remember-that-insane-people-can-do-some-horrors/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/186/robert-m-pirsig-817_can-do_you-have-to-remember-that-insane-people_287908.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/186/robert-m-pirsig-817_can-do_you-have-to-remember-that-insane-people_287908.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/186/robert-m-pirsig-817_can-do_you-have-to-remember-that-insane-people_287908.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“You have to remember, that insane people can do some horrors themselves. I had committed no crime, though. I…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“Between the lines Phaedrus read no doubts, no sense of awe, only the eternal smugness of the professional academician.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/between-the-lines-phaedrus-read-no-doubts-no-sense-of-awe-only-the/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2f4/robert-m-pirsig-817_smugness_between-the-lines-phaedrus-read-no-doubt_2304205.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2f4/robert-m-pirsig-817_smugness_between-the-lines-phaedrus-read-no-doubt_2304205.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2f4/robert-m-pirsig-817_smugness_between-the-lines-phaedrus-read-no-doubt_2304205.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Between the lines Phaedrus read no doubts, no sense of awe, only the eternal smugness of the professional…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "You want to know how to paint a perfect painting? It's easy. Make yourself perfect and then just paint naturally.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/you-want-to-know-how-to-paint-a-perfect-painting-it-s-easy-make/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd4/robert-m-pirsig-817_artist_you-want-to-know-how-to-paint-a-perfect_861828.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd4/robert-m-pirsig-817_artist_you-want-to-know-how-to-paint-a-perfect_861828.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cd4/robert-m-pirsig-817_artist_you-want-to-know-how-to-paint-a-perfect_861828.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“You want to know how to paint a perfect painting? It's easy. Make yourself perfect and then just paint…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 5,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "Today we are living in an intellectual and technological paradise and a moral and social nightmare because the intellectual level of evolution, in its struggle to become free of the social level, has ignored the social level's role in keeping the biological level under control.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/today-we-are-living-in-an-intellectual-and-technological-paradise-and/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ca2/robert-m-pirsig-817_biology_today-we-are-living-in-an-intellectual-a_2042898.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ca2/robert-m-pirsig-817_biology_today-we-are-living-in-an-intellectual-a_2042898.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ca2/robert-m-pirsig-817_biology_today-we-are-living-in-an-intellectual-a_2042898.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Today we are living in an intellectual and technological paradise and a moral and social nightmare because…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 6,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "Why, for example, should a group of simple, stable compounds of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen struggle for billions of years to organise themselves into a professor of chemistry? What's the motive?",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/why-for-example-should-a-group-of-simple-stable-compounds-of-carbon/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eed/robert-m-pirsig-817_billions_why-for-example-should-a-group-of-simple_2114469.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eed/robert-m-pirsig-817_billions_why-for-example-should-a-group-of-simple_2114469.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eed/robert-m-pirsig-817_billions_why-for-example-should-a-group-of-simple_2114469.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Why, for example, should a group of simple, stable compounds of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 7,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“If you get careless or go romanticizing scientific information, giving it a flourish here and there, Nature will soon make a complete fool out of you. It does it often enough anyway even when you don't give it opportunities.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/if-you-get-careless-or-go-romanticizing-scientific-information-giving/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d90/robert-m-pirsig-817_fool_if-you-get-careless-or-go-romanticizing_529140.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d90/robert-m-pirsig-817_fool_if-you-get-careless-or-go-romanticizing_529140.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d90/robert-m-pirsig-817_fool_if-you-get-careless-or-go-romanticizing_529140.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“If you get careless or go romanticizing scientific information, giving it a flourish here and there, Nature…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 8,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "I really don't mind dying because I figure I haven't wasted this life. Up until my first book was published I had all this potential, people would say, and I screwed up. After it, I could say: No, I didn't screw up.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/i-really-don-t-mind-dying-because-i-figure-i-haven-t-wasted-this-life/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0c1/robert-m-pirsig-817_book_i-really-don-t-mind-dying-because-i-figu_657958.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0c1/robert-m-pirsig-817_book_i-really-don-t-mind-dying-because-i-figu_657958.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0c1/robert-m-pirsig-817_book_i-really-don-t-mind-dying-because-i-figu_657958.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“I really don't mind dying because I figure I haven't wasted this life. Up until my first book was published…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 9,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "The ultimate test's always your own serenity. If you don't have this when you start and maintain it while you're working you're likely to build your personal problems right into the machine itself.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/the-ultimate-test-s-always-your-own-serenity-if-you-don-t-have-this/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bc0/robert-m-pirsig-817_ifs_the-ultimate-test-s-always-your-own-sere_1946241.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bc0/robert-m-pirsig-817_ifs_the-ultimate-test-s-always-your-own-sere_1946241.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bc0/robert-m-pirsig-817_ifs_the-ultimate-test-s-always-your-own-sere_1946241.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“The ultimate test's always your own serenity. If you don't have this when you start and maintain it while…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 10,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“A finely tempered nature longs to escape from his noisy cramped surroundings into the silence of the high mountains where the eye ranges freely through the still pure air and fondly traces out the restful contours apparently built for eternity.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/a-finely-tempered-nature-longs-to-escape-from-his-noisy-cramped/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1f4/robert-m-pirsig-817_einstein_a-finely-tempered-nature-longs-to-escape_2541253.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1f4/robert-m-pirsig-817_einstein_a-finely-tempered-nature-longs-to-escape_2541253.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1f4/robert-m-pirsig-817_einstein_a-finely-tempered-nature-longs-to-escape_2541253.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“A finely tempered nature longs to escape from his noisy cramped surroundings into the silence of the high…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 11,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "Socrates is not just expounding noble ideas in a vacuum. He is in the middle of a war between those who think truth is absolute and those who think truth is relative. He is fighting that war with everything he has.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/socrates-is-not-just-expounding-noble-ideas-in-a-vacuum-he-is-in-the/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d1b/robert-m-pirsig-817_absolutes_socrates-is-not-just-expounding-noble-id_1846810.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d1b/robert-m-pirsig-817_absolutes_socrates-is-not-just-expounding-noble-id_1846810.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d1b/robert-m-pirsig-817_absolutes_socrates-is-not-just-expounding-noble-id_1846810.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Socrates is not just expounding noble ideas in a vacuum. He is in the middle of a war between those who…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 12,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "What I mean (and everybody else means) by the word 'quality' cannot be broken down into subjects and predicates. This is not because Quality is so mysterious but because Quality is so simple, immediate and direct.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/what-i-mean-and-everybody-else-means-by-the-word-quality-cannot-be/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac5/robert-m-pirsig-817_broken_what-i-mean-and-everybody-else-means-by_3163022.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac5/robert-m-pirsig-817_broken_what-i-mean-and-everybody-else-means-by_3163022.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac5/robert-m-pirsig-817_broken_what-i-mean-and-everybody-else-means-by_3163022.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“What I mean (and everybody else means) by the word 'quality' cannot be broken down into subjects and…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 13,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "The mythos-over-logos argument points to the fact that each child is born as ignorant as any caveman. What keeps the world from reverting to the Neandertal with each generation is the continuing, ongoing mythos, transformed into logos but still mythos, the huge body of common knowledge that unites our minds as cells are united in the body of man. To feel that one is not so united, that one can accept or discard this mythos as one pleases, is not to understand what the mythos is.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/the-mythos-over-logos-argument-points-to-the-fact-that-each-child-is/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/967/robert-m-pirsig-817_accepting_the-mythos-over-logos-argument-points-to_2653804.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/967/robert-m-pirsig-817_accepting_the-mythos-over-logos-argument-points-to_2653804.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/967/robert-m-pirsig-817_accepting_the-mythos-over-logos-argument-points-to_2653804.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“The mythos-over-logos argument points to the fact that each child is born as ignorant as any caveman. What…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 14,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“The old channels cannot contain it and in its search for new ones there seems to be growing havoc and destruction along its banks. In this Chautauqua I would like not to cut any new channels of consciousness but simply dig deeper into old ones that have become silted in with the debris of thoughts grown stale and platitudes too often repeated. \"What’s new?\" is an interesting and broadening eternal question, but one which, if pursued exclusively, results only in an endless parade of trivia and fashion, the silt of tomorrow”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/the-old-channels-cannot-contain-it-and-in-its-search-for-new-ones/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/651/robert-m-pirsig-817_dig-deep_the-old-channels-cannot-contain-it-and-i_2777061.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/651/robert-m-pirsig-817_dig-deep_the-old-channels-cannot-contain-it-and-i_2777061.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/651/robert-m-pirsig-817_dig-deep_the-old-channels-cannot-contain-it-and-i_2777061.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“The old channels cannot contain it and in its search for new ones there seems to be growing havoc and…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 15,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“I think that if we are going to reform the world, and make it a better place to live in, the way to do it is not with talk about relationships of the political nature… I think that kind of approach starts it at the end and presumes the end is the beginning. Programs of a political nature are important and products of social quality that can be effective only if the underlying structure of social values is right. The social values are right only if the individual values are right.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/i-think-that-if-we-are-going-to-reform-the-world-and-make-it-a-better/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/93a/robert-m-pirsig-817_better-place_i-think-that-if-we-are-going-to-reform-t_418766.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/93a/robert-m-pirsig-817_better-place_i-think-that-if-we-are-going-to-reform-t_418766.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/93a/robert-m-pirsig-817_better-place_i-think-that-if-we-are-going-to-reform-t_418766.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“I think that if we are going to reform the world, and make it a better place to live in, the way to do it is…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 16,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“The material object of observation, the bicycle or rotisserie, can’t be right or wrong. Molecules are molecules. They don’t have any ethical codes to follow except those people give them. The test of the machine is the satisfaction it gives you. There isn’t any other test. If the machine produces tranquillity it’s right. If it disturbs you it’s wrong until either the machine or your mind is changed. The test of the machine’s always your own mind. There isn’t any other test.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/the-material-object-of-observation-the-bicycle-or-rotisserie-can-t-be/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4aa/robert-m-pirsig-817_computers_the-material-object-of-observation-the-b_667003.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4aa/robert-m-pirsig-817_computers_the-material-object-of-observation-the-b_667003.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4aa/robert-m-pirsig-817_computers_the-material-object-of-observation-the-b_667003.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“The material object of observation, the bicycle or rotisserie, can’t be right or wrong. Molecules are…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 17,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“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. 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”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/mountains-should-be-climbed-with-as-little-effort-as-possible-and-2/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/38e/robert-m-pirsig-817_climb_mountains-should-be-climbed-with-as-litt_1044461.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/38e/robert-m-pirsig-817_climb_mountains-should-be-climbed-with-as-litt_1044461.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/38e/robert-m-pirsig-817_climb_mountains-should-be-climbed-with-as-litt_1044461.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Mountains should be climbed with as little effort as possible and without desire. The reality of your own…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 18,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“The law of gravity and gravity itself did not exist before Isaac Newton.\" ...and what that means is that that law of gravity exists nowhere except in people's heads! It 's a ghost!\" Mind has no matter or energy but they can't escape its predominance over everything they do. Logic exists in the mind. numbers exist only in the mind. I don't get upset when scientists say that ghosts exist in the mind. it's that only that gets me. science is only in your mind too, it's just that that doesn't make it bad. or ghosts either.\" Laws of nature are human inventions, like ghosts. Law of logic, of mathematics are also human inventions, like ghosts.\" ...we see what we see because these ghosts show it to us, ghosts of Moses and Christ and the Buddha, and Plato, and Descartes, and Rousseau and Jefferson and Lincoln, on and on and on. Isaac Newton is a very good ghost. One of the best. Your common sense is nothing more than the voices of thousands and thousands of these ghosts from the past.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/the-law-of-gravity-and-gravity-itself-did-not-exist-before-isaac/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/01b/robert-m-pirsig-817_law_the-law-of-gravity-and-gravity-itself-di_569592.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/01b/robert-m-pirsig-817_law_the-law-of-gravity-and-gravity-itself-di_569592.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/01b/robert-m-pirsig-817_law_the-law-of-gravity-and-gravity-itself-di_569592.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“The law of gravity and gravity itself did not exist before Isaac Newton.\" ...and what that means is that…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 19,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“An alternative — and better — definition of reality can be found by naming some of its components: air, sunlight, wind, water, the motion of waves, the patterns of clouds before a coming storm. These elements, unlike 20th-century office routines, have been here since before life appeared on this planet, and they will continue long after office routines are gone. They are understood by everyone, not just a small segment of a highly advanced society. When considered on purely logical grounds, they are more real than the extremely transitory lifestyles of the modern civilization the depressed ones want to return to.If this is so, then it follows that those who see sailing as an escape from reality have their understanding of sailing and reality backward. Sailing is not an escape, but a return to and a confrontation of a reality from which modern civilization is itself an escape. For centuries, man suffered from the reality of an Earth that was too dark or too hot or too cold for his comfort, and to escape this he invented complex systems of lighting, heating and air conditioning.Sailing rejects these and returns to the old realities of dark and heat and cold. Modern civilization has found radio, television, movies, nightclubs and a huge variety of mechanized entertainment to titillate our senses and help us escape from the apparent boredom of the Earth and the Sun, the wind and the stars. Sailing returns to these ancient realities.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/an-alternative-and-better-definition-of-reality-can-be-found-by/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b9b/robert-m-pirsig-817_air-conditioning_an-alternative-and-better-definition-of_1890915.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b9b/robert-m-pirsig-817_air-conditioning_an-alternative-and-better-definition-of_1890915.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b9b/robert-m-pirsig-817_air-conditioning_an-alternative-and-better-definition-of_1890915.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“An alternative — and better — definition of reality can be found by naming some of its components: air…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 20,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "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.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/mental-patterns-do-not-originate-out-of-inorganic-nature-they/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/41b/robert-m-pirsig-817_connections_mental-patterns-do-not-originate-out-of_1613342.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/41b/robert-m-pirsig-817_connections_mental-patterns-do-not-originate-out-of_1613342.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/41b/robert-m-pirsig-817_connections_mental-patterns-do-not-originate-out-of_1613342.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Mental patterns do not originate out of inorganic nature. They originate out of society, which originates…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 21,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "The sun of quality does not revolve around the subjects and objects of our existence. It does not just passively illuminate them. It is not subordinate to them in any way. It has CREATED them. They are subordinate to IT.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/the-sun-of-quality-does-not-revolve-around-the-subjects-and-objects/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d82/robert-m-pirsig-817_doe_the-sun-of-quality-does-not-revolve-arou_1441735.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d82/robert-m-pirsig-817_doe_the-sun-of-quality-does-not-revolve-arou_1441735.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d82/robert-m-pirsig-817_doe_the-sun-of-quality-does-not-revolve-arou_1441735.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“The sun of quality does not revolve around the subjects and objects of our existence. It does not just…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 22,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "Man is not the source of all things, as the subjective idealists would say. Nor is he the passive observer of all things, as the objective idealists would say. The Quality which creates the world emerges as a relationship between man and his experience. He is a participant in the creation of all things. The measure of all things.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/man-is-not-the-source-of-all-things-as-the-subjective-idealists-would/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f32/robert-m-pirsig-817_all-things_man-is-not-the-source-of-all-things-as-t_1035833.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f32/robert-m-pirsig-817_all-things_man-is-not-the-source-of-all-things-as-t_1035833.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f32/robert-m-pirsig-817_all-things_man-is-not-the-source-of-all-things-as-t_1035833.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Man is not the source of all things, as the subjective idealists would say. Nor is he the passive observer…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 23,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "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.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/you-are-never-dedicated-to-do-something-you-have-complete-confidence/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d01/robert-m-pirsig-817_confidence_you-are-never-dedicated-to-do-something_729904.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d01/robert-m-pirsig-817_confidence_you-are-never-dedicated-to-do-something_729904.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d01/robert-m-pirsig-817_confidence_you-are-never-dedicated-to-do-something_729904.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“You are never dedicated to do something you have complete confidence in. No one is fanatically shouting that…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 24,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "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.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/the-test-of-the-machine-is-the-satisfaction-it-gives-you-there-isn-t/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a1a/robert-m-pirsig-817_changed_the-test-of-the-machine-is-the-satisfact_2813032.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a1a/robert-m-pirsig-817_changed_the-test-of-the-machine-is-the-satisfact_2813032.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a1a/robert-m-pirsig-817_changed_the-test-of-the-machine-is-the-satisfact_2813032.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“The test of the machine is the satisfaction it gives you. There isn't any other test. If the machine…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 25,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "The study of the art of motorcycle maintenance is really a miniature study of the art of rationality itself. Working on a motorcycle, working well, caring, is to become part of a process, to achieve an inner peace of mind. The motorcycle is primarily a mental phenomenon.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/the-study-of-the-art-of-motorcycle-maintenance-is-really-a-miniature/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab5/robert-m-pirsig-817_achieve_the-study-of-the-art-of-motorcycle-maint_608548.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab5/robert-m-pirsig-817_achieve_the-study-of-the-art-of-motorcycle-maint_608548.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab5/robert-m-pirsig-817_achieve_the-study-of-the-art-of-motorcycle-maint_608548.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“The study of the art of motorcycle maintenance is really a miniature study of the art of rationality itself…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 26,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“In a sense, he said, it’s the student’s choice of Quality that defines him. People differ about Quality, not because Quality is different, but because people are different in terms of experience.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/in-a-sense-he-said-it-s-the-student-s-choice-of-quality-that-defines/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b70/robert-m-pirsig-817_education_in-a-sense-he-said-it-s-the-student-s-ch_912308.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b70/robert-m-pirsig-817_education_in-a-sense-he-said-it-s-the-student-s-ch_912308.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b70/robert-m-pirsig-817_education_in-a-sense-he-said-it-s-the-student-s-ch_912308.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“In a sense, he said, it’s the student’s choice of Quality that defines him. People differ about Quality, not…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 27,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“I have seen these marshes a thousand times, yet each time they're new. It's wrong to call them benign. You could just as well call them cruel and senseless, they are all of those things, but the reality of them overwhelms halfway conceptions.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/i-have-seen-these-marshes-a-thousand-times-yet-each-time-they-re-new/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ae/robert-m-pirsig-817_marshes_i-have-seen-these-marshes-a-thousand-tim_2690089.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ae/robert-m-pirsig-817_marshes_i-have-seen-these-marshes-a-thousand-tim_2690089.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3ae/robert-m-pirsig-817_marshes_i-have-seen-these-marshes-a-thousand-tim_2690089.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“I have seen these marshes a thousand times, yet each time they're new. It's wrong to call them benign. You…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 28,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "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",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/the-idea-that-the-majority-of-students-attend-a-university-for-an/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fd2/robert-m-pirsig-817_attitude_the-idea-that-the-majority-of-students-a_2930654.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fd2/robert-m-pirsig-817_attitude_the-idea-that-the-majority-of-students-a_2930654.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fd2/robert-m-pirsig-817_attitude_the-idea-that-the-majority-of-students-a_2930654.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“The idea that the majority of students attend a university for an education independent of the degree and…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 29,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“Or winters when the sloughs were frozen over and dead and i could walk across the ice and snow between the dead cattails and see nothing but grey skies and dead things and cold”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/or-winters-when-the-sloughs-were-frozen-over-and-dead-and-i-could/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eeb/robert-m-pirsig-817_flower_or-winters-when-the-sloughs-were-frozen_1008542.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eeb/robert-m-pirsig-817_flower_or-winters-when-the-sloughs-were-frozen_1008542.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eeb/robert-m-pirsig-817_flower_or-winters-when-the-sloughs-were-frozen_1008542.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Or winters when the sloughs were frozen over and dead and i could walk across the ice and snow between the…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 30,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“You see things vacationing on a motorcycle in a way that is completely different from any other. 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.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/you-see-things-vacationing-on-a-motorcycle-in-a-way-that-is/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fb4/robert-m-pirsig-817_motorcycle_you-see-things-vacationing-on-a-motorcyc_1226417.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fb4/robert-m-pirsig-817_motorcycle_you-see-things-vacationing-on-a-motorcyc_1226417.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fb4/robert-m-pirsig-817_motorcycle_you-see-things-vacationing-on-a-motorcyc_1226417.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“You see things vacationing on a motorcycle in a way that is completely different from any other. In a car…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 31,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "Rules of Order state that ... No minority has a right to block a majority from conducting the legal business of the organisation … but No majority has a right to prevent a minority from peacefully attempting to become the majority.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/rules-of-order-state-that-no-minority-has-a-right-to-block-a-majority/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/228/robert-m-pirsig-817_attempting_rules-of-order-state-that-no-minority-ha_3179218.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/228/robert-m-pirsig-817_attempting_rules-of-order-state-that-no-minority-ha_3179218.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/228/robert-m-pirsig-817_attempting_rules-of-order-state-that-no-minority-ha_3179218.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Rules of Order state that ... No minority has a right to block a majority from conducting the legal business…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 32,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "Of course, the laws of science contain no matter and have no energy either and therefore do not exist except in people's minds. It's best to be completely scientific about the whole thing and refuse to believe in either ghosts or the laws of science. That way you're safe. That doesn't leave you very much to believe in, but that's scientific too.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/of-course-the-laws-of-science-contain-no-matter-and-have-no-energy/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7a2/robert-m-pirsig-817_believe_of-course-the-laws-of-science-contain-no_1452383.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7a2/robert-m-pirsig-817_believe_of-course-the-laws-of-science-contain-no_1452383.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7a2/robert-m-pirsig-817_believe_of-course-the-laws-of-science-contain-no_1452383.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Of course, the laws of science contain no matter and have no energy either and therefore do not exist except…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 33,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“Yah-da, yah-da, yah-da, yah-da, yah, carburetor, gear ratio, compression, yah-da-yah, piston, plugs, intake, yah-da-yah, on and on and on. That is the romantic face of the classic mode. Dull, awkward and ugly. Few romantics get beyond that point.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/yah-da-yah-da-yah-da-yah-da-yah-carburetor-gear-ratio-compression-yah/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/060/robert-m-pirsig-817_classic-mode_yah-da-yah-da-yah-da-yah-da-yah-carburet_766911.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/060/robert-m-pirsig-817_classic-mode_yah-da-yah-da-yah-da-yah-da-yah-carburet_766911.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/060/robert-m-pirsig-817_classic-mode_yah-da-yah-da-yah-da-yah-da-yah-carburet_766911.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Yah-da, yah-da, yah-da, yah-da, yah, carburetor, gear ratio, compression, yah-da-yah, piston, plugs, intake…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 34,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“It’s an old split. Like the one between art and art history. One does it and the other talks about how it’s done and the talk about how it’s done never seems to match how one does it. DeWeese”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/it-s-an-old-split-like-the-one-between-art-and-art-history-one-does/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e3b/robert-m-pirsig-817_art_it-s-an-old-split-like-the-one-between-a_1803567.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e3b/robert-m-pirsig-817_art_it-s-an-old-split-like-the-one-between-a_1803567.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e3b/robert-m-pirsig-817_art_it-s-an-old-split-like-the-one-between-a_1803567.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“It’s an old split. Like the one between art and art history. One does it and the other talks about how it’s…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 35,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "Laws of nature are human inventions, like ghosts. Laws of logic, or mathematics are also human inventions, like ghosts. The whole blessed thing is a human invention, including the idea that it isn't a human invention.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/laws-of-nature-are-human-inventions-like-ghosts-laws-of-logic-or/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9da/robert-m-pirsig-817_blessed_laws-of-nature-are-human-inventions-like_3113713.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9da/robert-m-pirsig-817_blessed_laws-of-nature-are-human-inventions-like_3113713.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9da/robert-m-pirsig-817_blessed_laws-of-nature-are-human-inventions-like_3113713.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Laws of nature are human inventions, like ghosts. Laws of logic, or mathematics are also human inventions…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 36,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“However, it should in no way be associated with that great body of factual information relating to orthodox Zen Buddhist practice. It’s not very factual on motorcycles either.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/however-it-should-in-no-way-be-associated-with-that-great-body-of/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d16/robert-m-pirsig-817_buddhism_however-it-should-in-no-way-be-associate_1393541.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d16/robert-m-pirsig-817_buddhism_however-it-should-in-no-way-be-associate_1393541.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d16/robert-m-pirsig-817_buddhism_however-it-should-in-no-way-be-associate_1393541.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“However, it should in no way be associated with that great body of factual information relating to orthodox…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 37,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "Who really can face the future? All you can do is project from the past, even when the past shows that such projections are often wrong. And who really can forget the past? What else is there to know?",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/who-really-can-face-the-future-all-you-can-do-is-project-from-the/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dae/robert-m-pirsig-817_faces_who-really-can-face-the-future-all-you-c_2319196.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dae/robert-m-pirsig-817_faces_who-really-can-face-the-future-all-you-c_2319196.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dae/robert-m-pirsig-817_faces_who-really-can-face-the-future-all-you-c_2319196.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Who really can face the future? All you can do is project from the past, even when the past shows that such…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 38,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“So green this summer and so fresh. There are white and gold daisies among the grass in front of an old wire fence, a meadow with some cows and far in the distance a low rising of the land with something golden on it. Hard to know what it is. No need to know.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/so-green-this-summer-and-so-fresh-there-are-white-and-gold-daisies/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6c/robert-m-pirsig-817_daisies_so-green-this-summer-and-so-fresh-there_2915795.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6c/robert-m-pirsig-817_daisies_so-green-this-summer-and-so-fresh-there_2915795.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c6c/robert-m-pirsig-817_daisies_so-green-this-summer-and-so-fresh-there_2915795.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“So green this summer and so fresh. There are white and gold daisies among the grass in front of an old wire…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 39,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "It's paradoxical that where people are the most closely crowded, in the big coastal cities in the East and West, the loneliness is the greatest... The explanation, I suppose, is that the physical distance between people has nothing to do with loneliness. It's psychic distance...",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/it-s-paradoxical-that-where-people-are-the-most-closely-crowded-in/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d90/robert-m-pirsig-817_bigs_it-s-paradoxical-that-where-people-are-t_1345157.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d90/robert-m-pirsig-817_bigs_it-s-paradoxical-that-where-people-are-t_1345157.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d90/robert-m-pirsig-817_bigs_it-s-paradoxical-that-where-people-are-t_1345157.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“It's paradoxical that where people are the most closely crowded, in the big coastal cities in the East and…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 40,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“Of the value traps, the most widespread and pernicious is value rigidity. This is an inability to revalue what one sees because of commitment to previous values. In motorcycle maintenance, you MUST rediscover what you do as you go. Rigid values makes this impossible.”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/of-the-value-traps-the-most-widespread-and-pernicious-is-value/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b5c/robert-m-pirsig-817_life-wisdom_of-the-value-traps-the-most-widespread-a_125425.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b5c/robert-m-pirsig-817_life-wisdom_of-the-value-traps-the-most-widespread-a_125425.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b5c/robert-m-pirsig-817_life-wisdom_of-the-value-traps-the-most-widespread-a_125425.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Of the value traps, the most widespread and pernicious is value rigidity. This is an inability to revalue…” — Robert M. Pirsig",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "Person",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/#person",
            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/",
            "image": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b018/author-robert-m-pirsig-817.jpg",
            "description": "Robert M. Pirsig was an American writer and philosopher. He wrote Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974) and Lila (1991), and later co‑authored On Quality with his wife Wendy Pirsig."
        },
        {
            "@type": "ProfilePage",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/page/8/#webpage",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/page/8/",
            "name": "Robert M. Pirsig",
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "mainEntity": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/#person"
            },
            "primaryImageOfPage": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/569/robert-m-pirsig-817_future_to-live-only-for-some-future-goal-is-sha_299937.png"
            },
            "description": "Robert M. Pirsig was an American writer and philosopher. He wrote Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974) and Lila (1991), and later co‑authore...",
            "breadcrumb": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/page/8/#breadcrumb"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/page/8/#breadcrumb",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Authors",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/authors/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Robert M. Pirsig",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/page/8/"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```