---
title: "Best Robert M. Pirsig Proverbs"
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

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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 9

> [“the track of Quality preselects what data we’re going to be conscious of, and it makes this selection in such a way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/the-track-of-quality-preselects-what-data-we-re-going-to-be-conscious/)

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

[Excellence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/excellence/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0bb/robert-m-pirsig-817_excellence_the-track-of-quality-preselects-what-dat_1224214.png)

> [99 per cent of your life recognises things without definition, a baby recognises its mother's face without having it defined. It's just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/99-per-cent-of-your-life-recognises-things-without-definition-a-baby/)

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

[Arbitrary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/arbitrary/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/03f/robert-m-pirsig-817_arbitrary_99-per-cent-of-your-life-recognises-thin_165820.png)

> [The way to see what looks good and understand the reasons it looks good, and to be at one with this goodness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/the-way-to-see-what-looks-good-and-understand-the-reasons-it-looks/)

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

[Goodness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/goodness/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/488/robert-m-pirsig-817_goodness_the-way-to-see-what-looks-good-and-under_2924593.png)

> [Morality is not a simple set of rules. It's a very complex struggle of conflicting patterns of values. This conflict is the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/morality-is-not-a-simple-set-of-rules-it-s-a-very-complex-struggle-of/)

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

[Character](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/character/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3e4/robert-m-pirsig-817_character_morality-is-not-a-simple-set-of-rules-it_2983799.png)

> [Stuckness shouldn't be avoided. It's the psychic predecessor of all real understanding. An egoless acceptance of stuckness is a key to an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/stuckness-shouldn-t-be-avoided-it-s-the-psychic-predecessor-of-all/)

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

[Acceptance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/acceptance/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f4a/robert-m-pirsig-817_acceptance_stuckness-shouldn-t-be-avoided-it-s-the_1529317.png)

> [“To arrive in the Rocky Mountains by plane would be to see them in one kind of context,as pretty scenery. But to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/to-arrive-in-the-rocky-mountains-by-plane-would-be-to-see-them-in-one/)

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

[Promised land](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/promised-land/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eac/robert-m-pirsig-817_promised-land_to-arrive-in-the-rocky-mountains-by-plan_1742354.jpg)

> [“To doubt the literal meaning of the words of Jesus or Moses incurs hostility from most people, but it’s just a fact…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/to-doubt-the-literal-meaning-of-the-words-of-jesus-or-moses-incurs/)

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

[Mental stability](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mental-stability/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b5f/robert-m-pirsig-817_mental-stability_to-doubt-the-literal-meaning-of-the-word_2043318.jpg)

> [Cliches and stereotypes such as "beatnik" or "hippie" have been invented for the antitechnologists, the antisystem people, and will continue to be.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/cliches-and-stereotypes-such-as-beatnik-or-hippie-have-been-invented/)

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

[Beatnik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beatnik/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c2/robert-m-pirsig-817_beatnik_cliches-and-stereotypes-such-as-beatnik_3204740.png)

> [“The past exists only in our memories, the future only in our plans. The present is our only reality. The tree that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/the-past-exists-only-in-our-memories-the-future-only-in-our-plans-the-3/)

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

[Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/191/robert-m-pirsig-817_time_the-past-exists-only-in-our-memories-the_3028998.jpg)

> [“What you need is an hypothesis for how you’re going to get that slotless screw out of there and scientific method doesn’t…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/what-you-need-is-an-hypothesis-for-how-you-re-going-to-get-that/)

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

[Losing time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/losing-time/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/15c/robert-m-pirsig-817_losing-time_what-you-need-is-an-hypothesis-for-how-y_1916600.jpg)

> [“When you try to climb a mountain to prove how big you are, you almost never make it. And even if you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/when-you-try-to-climb-a-mountain-to-prove-how-big-you-are-you-almost/)

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

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/248/robert-m-pirsig-817_climb_when-you-try-to-climb-a-mountain-to-prov_1013393.png)

> [The hippies had in mind something that they wanted, and were calling it freedom, but in the final analysis freedom is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/the-hippies-had-in-mind-something-that-they-wanted-and-were-calling/)

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

[Alternatives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alternatives/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/397/robert-m-pirsig-817_alternatives_the-hippies-had-in-mind-something-that-t_2492422.jpg)

> [Science probes; it does not prove. Imagine Newton's reaction to an objector of his law of gravity who argued that he could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/science-probes-it-does-not-prove-imagine-newton-s-reaction-to-an/)

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

[Apples](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/apples/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/edc/robert-m-pirsig-817_apples_science-probes-it-does-not-prove-imagine_1107728.png)

> [“The nature of our culture is such that if you were to look for instruction in how to do any of these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/the-nature-of-our-culture-is-such-that-if-you-were-to-look-for/)

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

[Beauty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beauty/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cfa/robert-m-pirsig-817_beauty_the-nature-of-our-culture-is-such-that-i_236701.png)

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

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

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9c7/robert-m-pirsig-817_bigs_it-s-paradoxical-that-where-people-are-m_2763064.jpg)

> [Only social patterns can control biological patterns, and the instrument of conversation between society and biology is not words. The instrument of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/only-social-patterns-can-control-biological-patterns-and-the/)

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

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/108/robert-m-pirsig-817_biology_only-social-patterns-can-control-biologi_147933.jpg)

> [The thing to understand is that if you are going to reform society you don't start with cops. And if you are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/the-thing-to-understand-is-that-if-you-are-going-to-reform-society/)

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

[Best things](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/best-things/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e28/robert-m-pirsig-817_best-things_the-thing-to-understand-is-that-if-you-a_922421.png)

> [“He comments on how amazing it is that everything in the universe can be described by the twenty-six written characters with which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/he-comments-on-how-amazing-it-is-that-everything-in-the-universe-can/)

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

[Duality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/duality/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/52b/robert-m-pirsig-817_duality_he-comments-on-how-amazing-it-is-that-ev_2062639.png)

> [One thing about pioneers that you don't hear mentioned is that they are invariably, by their nature, mess-makers. They go forging ahead,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/one-thing-about-pioneers-that-you-don-t-hear-mentioned-is-that-they/)

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

[Behinds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/behinds/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea6/robert-m-pirsig-817_behinds_one-thing-about-pioneers-that-you-don-t_981387.png)

> […the doctrinal differences between Hinduism and Buddhism and Taoism are not anywhere near as important as doctrinal differences among Christianity and Islam…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/the-doctrinal-differences-between-hinduism-and-buddhism-and-taoism/)

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

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

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/442/robert-m-pirsig-817_buddhism_the-doctrinal-differences-between-hindui_2205232.png)

> [A culture that supports the dominance of social values over biological values is an absolutely superior culture to one that does not,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/a-culture-that-supports-the-dominance-of-social-values-over/)

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

[Culture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/culture/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f1d/robert-m-pirsig-817_culture_a-culture-that-supports-the-dominance-of_2017750.png)

> [It's not the 'nice' guy who brings about real social change. 'Nice' guys look nice because they're conforming. It's the 'bad' guys,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/it-s-not-the-nice-guy-who-brings-about-real-social-change-nice-guys/)

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

[Bad guys](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bad-guys/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0cd/robert-m-pirsig-817_bad-guys_it-s-not-the-nice-guy-who-brings-about-r_534496.png)

> [Care and Quality are internal and external aspects of the same thing. A person who sees Quality and feels it as he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/care-and-quality-are-internal-and-external-aspects-of-the-same-thing/)

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

[Aspect](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/aspect/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cad/robert-m-pirsig-817_aspect_care-and-quality-are-internal-and-extern_1593423.jpg)

> [“Quality is the continuing stimulus which causes us to create the world in which we live. All of it. Every last bit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/quality-is-the-continuing-stimulus-which-causes-us-to-create-the/)

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

[Religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/28e/robert-m-pirsig-817_religion_quality-is-the-continuing-stimulus-which_2633161.png)

> [“The ideas, the things I was saying about science and ghosts, and even that idea this afternoon about caring and technology—they are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/the-ideas-the-things-i-was-saying-about-science-and-ghosts-and-even/)

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

[Compassion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/compassion/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/178/robert-m-pirsig-817_compassion_the-ideas-the-things-i-was-saying-about_2590248.png)

> [“What�s new?” is an interesting and broadening eternal question, but one which, if pursued exclusively, results only in an endless parade of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/what-s-new-is-an-interesting-and-broadening-eternal-question-but-one/)

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

[Endless](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/endless/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/919/robert-m-pirsig-817_endless_what-s-new-is-an-interesting-and-broaden_1758526.png)

> [If a revolution destroys a systematic government, but the systematic patterns of thought that produced that government are left intact, then those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/if-a-revolution-destroys-a-systematic-government-but-the-systematic/)

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

[Government](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/government/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f87/robert-m-pirsig-817_government_if-a-revolution-destroys-a-systematic-go_133281.jpg)

> [“This is the hardest stuff in the world to photograph. You need a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree lens, or something. You see it, and then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/this-is-the-hardest-stuff-in-the-world-to-photograph-you-need-a-three/)

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

[Lens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lens/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a2b/robert-m-pirsig-817_lens_this-is-the-hardest-stuff-in-the-world-t_2817143.png)

> [I argued that physical discomfort is important only when the mood is wrong. Then you fasten on to whatever thing is uncomfortable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/i-argued-that-physical-discomfort-is-important-only-when-the-mood-is/)

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

[Causes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/causes/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b8f/robert-m-pirsig-817_causes_i-argued-that-physical-discomfort-is-imp_1106096.png)

> [“May, will you please, kindly DIG it," he remembered one of them saying, "and hold up on all those wonderful seven-dollar questions?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/may-will-you-please-kindly-dig-it-he-remembered-one-of-them-saying/)

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

[Groovy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/groovy/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9fe/robert-m-pirsig-817_groovy_may-will-you-please-kindly-dig-it-he-rem_2070164.png)

> [Quality tends to fan out like waves. The Quality job he didn't think anyone was going to see was seen, and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/quality-tends-to-fan-out-like-waves-the-quality-job-he-didn-t-think/)

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

[Bits](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bits/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/415/robert-m-pirsig-817_bits_quality-tends-to-fan-out-like-waves-the_2814119.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/)

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                        "text": "The way to see what looks good and understand the reasons it looks good, and to be at one with this goodness as the work proceeds, is to cultivate an inner quietness, a peace of mind so that goodness can shine through.",
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                        "text": "Morality is not a simple set of rules. It's a very complex struggle of conflicting patterns of values. This conflict is the residue of evolution. As new patters evolve they come into conflict with old ones. Each stage of evolution creates in its wake a wash of problems.",
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                        "text": "Stuckness shouldn't be avoided. It's the psychic predecessor of all real understanding. An egoless acceptance of stuckness is a key to an understanding of all Quality, in mechanical work as in other endeavors.",
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                        "text": "“To arrive in the Rocky Mountains by plane would be to see them in one kind of context,as pretty scenery. But to arrive after days of hard travel across the prairies would be to see them in another way, as a goal, a promised land.”",
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                        "text": "“To doubt the literal meaning of the words of Jesus or Moses incurs hostility from most people, but it’s just a fact that if Jesus or Moses were to appear today, unidentified, with the same message he spoke many years ago, his mental stability would be challenged.”",
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                        "text": "Cliches and stereotypes such as \"beatnik\" or \"hippie\" have been invented for the antitechnologists, the antisystem people, and will continue to be. But one does not convert individuals into mass people with the simple coining of a mass term.",
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                        "text": "“The past exists only in our memories, the future only in our plans. The present is our only reality. The tree that you are aware of intellectually, because of that small time lag, is always in the past and therefore is always unreal. Any intellectually conceived object is always in the past and therefore unreal. Reality is always the moment of vision before the intellectualization takes place. There is no other reality. This preintellectual reality is what Phaedrus felt he had properly identified as Quality. Since all intellectually identifiable things must emerge from this preintellectual reality, Quality is the parent, the source of all subjects and objects.”",
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                        "text": "“What you need is an hypothesis for how you’re going to get that slotless screw out of there and scientific method doesn’t provide any of these hypotheses. It operates only after they’re around. This is the zero moment of consciousness. Stuck. No answer. Honked. Kaput. It’s a miserable experience emotionally. You’re losing time. You’re incompetent. You don’t know what you’re doing. You should be ashamed of yourself.”",
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                        "text": "“When you try to climb a mountain to prove how big you are, you almost never make it. And even if you do it’s a hollow victory. In order to sustain the victory you have to prove yourself again and again in some other way, and again and again and again, driven forever to fill a false image, haunted by the fear that the image is not true and someone will find out. That’s never the way.”",
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                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "The hippies had in mind something that they wanted, and were calling it freedom, but in the final analysis freedom is a purely negative goal. It just says something is bad. Hippies weren't really offering any alternatives other than colorful short-term ones, and some of these were looking more and more like pure degeneracy. Degeneracy can be fun but it's hard to keep up as a serious lifetime occupation.",
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                        "text": "Science probes; it does not prove. Imagine Newton's reaction to an objector of his law of gravity who argued that he could not establish a universal law because he had not observed every falling apple, much less proved the law of gravity - there might, after all, be an apple that levitates! Why should a group of simple, stable compounds of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen struggle for billions of years to organize themselves into a professor of chemistry?",
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                        "text": "“The nature of our culture is such that if you were to look for instruction in how to do any of these jobs, the instruction would always give only one understanding of Quality, the classic. It would tell you how to hold the blade when sharpening the knife, or how to use a sewing machine, or how to mix and apply glue with the presumption that once these underlying methods were applied, “good” would naturally follow. The ability to see directly what “looks good” would be ignored. The result is rather typical of modern technology, an overall dullness of appearance so depressing that it must be overlaid with a veneer of “style” to make it acceptable. And that, to anyone who is sensitive to romantic Quality, just makes it all the worse. Now it’s not just depressingly dull, it’s also phony. Put the two together and you get a pretty accurate basic description of modern American technology: stylized cars and stylized outboard motors and stylized typewriters and stylized clothes. Stylized refrigerators filled with stylized food in stylized kitchens in stylized houses. Plastic stylized toys for stylized children, who at Christmas and birthdays are in style with their stylish parents. You have to be awfully stylish yourself not to get sick of it once in a while. It’s the style that gets you; technological ugliness syruped over with romantic phoniness in an effort to produce beauty and profit by people who, though stylish, don’t know where to start because no one has ever told them there’s such a thing as Quality in this world and it’s real, not style. Quality isn’t something you lay on top of subjects and objects like tinsel on a Christmas tree. Real Quality must be the source of the subjects and objects, the cone from which the tree must start.”",
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                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "It's paradoxical that where people are most closely crowded, in the big coastal cities of the East and West, the loneliness is the greatest...The explanation is that the physical distance between people has nothing to do with loneliness. It's psychic distance.",
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                        "text": "Only social patterns can control biological patterns, and the instrument of conversation between society and biology is not words. The instrument of conversation between society and biology has always been a policeman or a soldier and his gun.",
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                        "text": "…the doctrinal differences between Hinduism and Buddhism and Taoism are not anywhere near as important as doctrinal differences among Christianity and Islam and Judaism. Holy wars are not fought over them because verbalized statements about reality are never presumed to be reality itself.",
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                        "text": "“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.”",
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                        "text": "If a revolution destroys a systematic government, but the systematic patterns of thought that produced that government are left intact, then those patterns will repeat themselves in the succeeding government.",
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                        "text": "“This is the hardest stuff in the world to photograph. You need a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree lens, or something. You see it, and then you look down in the ground glass and it's just nothing. As soon as you put a border on it, it's gone.”",
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                        "text": "“May, will you please, kindly DIG it,\" he remembered one of them saying, \"and hold up on all those wonderful seven-dollar questions? If you got to ask what IS it all the time, you'll never get time to KNOW.”",
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