--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Substance is a subspecies of value. When…" description: "\"Substance is a subspecies of value. When you reverse the containment process and define substance in terms of value the mystery disappears: substance i..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f46/robert-m-pirsig-817_containment_substance-is-a-subspecies-of-value-when_1252227.png" --- # Substance is a subspecies of value. When you reverse the… ![“Substance is a subspecies of value. When you reverse the containment process and define substance in terms of value the mystery disappears: substance is a "stable pattern of inorganic values." The problem then disappears. The world of objects and the world of values is unified.” quote by Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f46/robert-m-pirsig-817_containment_substance-is-a-subspecies-of-value-when_1252227.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f46/robert-m-pirsig-817_containment_substance-is-a-subspecies-of-value-when_1252227.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f46/robert-m-pirsig-817_containment_substance-is-a-subspecies-of-value-when_1252227.png) > “Substance is a subspecies of value. When you reverse the containment process and define substance in terms of value the mystery disappears: substance is a "stable pattern of inorganic values." The problem then disappears. The world of objects and the world of values is unified.” [Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Seeing substance as a stable pattern of values removes the mystery and unifies objects with values. **In simple terms:** Substance equals stable value patterns. Key Takeaway Recognize value patterns in things. Themes philosophy ontology value theory Mood contemplative analytical Type philosophical theoretical When to use this quote - ethical analysis - product design - financial valuation - personal decision making Key Concepts Pattern recognition value stability metaphysics Questions to Reflect On - How do you identify stable value patterns? - Can objects have conflicting value patterns? A Different Perspective Assumes values are stable and universally comparable. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Containment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/containment/) [Mystery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mystery/) [Patterns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/patterns/) [Problem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/problem/) [Process](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/process/) [Values](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/values/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [All right, listen up! Until we can close that portal up there, what we need is containment. 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But it is here that I have been driven to the greatest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-d-lounsbrough/i-have-been-driven-to-desperation-more-times-than-i-can-count-but-it/) [Craig D. Lounsbrough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-d-lounsbrough/) > [“Let your passion and courage swell in you until you can no longer be contained by fear.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryant-mcgill/let-your-passion-and-courage-swell-in-you-until-you-can-no-longer-be/) [Bryant McGill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bryant-mcgill/) > [His face contained for me all possibilities of fierceness and sweetness, pride and submissiveness, violence, self-containment. 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But they require…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-krauthammer/guerrilla-war-is-a-test-of-wills-obama-s-actual-objectives-rollback/) [Charles Krauthammer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-krauthammer/) > [It was an axiom of "containment" that no part of the known world could be considered neutral. "Neutralism" was among the Cold Warriors' gravest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/it-was-an-axiom-of-containment-that-no-part-of-the-known-world-could/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [Students being miseducated, criminalized and arrested through a form of penal pedagogy in prison-type schools provide a grim reminder of the degree to which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-giroux/students-being-miseducated-criminalized-and-arrested-through-a-form/) [Henry Giroux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-giroux/) ## More by Robert M. Pirsig > [“And from time to time you find your “county road” takes you onto a two-rutter and then a single rutter and then into a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/and-from-time-to-time-you-find-your-county-road-takes-you-onto-a-two/) [Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/) > [“I started to roll over for more sleep but heard a rooster crowing and then became aware we are on vacation and there is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/i-started-to-roll-over-for-more-sleep-but-heard-a-rooster-crowing-and/) [Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/) > [The Buddha, the Godhead, resides quite as comfortably in the circuits of a digital computer or the gears of a cycle transmission as he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/the-buddha-the-godhead-resides-quite-as-comfortably-in-the-circuits/) [Robert M. 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Metaphysics is names about reality.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/historically-mystics-have-claimed-that-for-a-true-understanding-of/) [Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/) > [“What’s emerging from the pattern of my own life is the for belief that the crisis is being caused by the inadequacy of existing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/what-s-emerging-from-the-pattern-of-my-own-life-is-the-for-belief/) [Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/) > [To speak of certain government and establishment institutions as 'the system' is to speak correctly . . . They are sustained by structural relationships…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/to-speak-of-certain-government-and-establishment-institutions-as-the/) [Robert M. 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Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/) > [Even in the presence of others he was completely alone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-pirsig/even-in-the-presence-of-others-he-was-completely-alone/) [Robert M. Pirsig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/) [Explore all 351 Robert M. Pirsig quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-pirsig/) ## More Containment quotes > [All right, listen up! Until we can close that portal up there, what we need is containment. Barton: I want you on that roof,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/the-avengers/all-right-listen-up-until-we-can-close-that-portal-up-there-what-we/) [The Avengers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/the-avengers/) > [It was an axiom of "containment" that no part of the known world could be considered neutral. 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But while you're slowing the spread, you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-bright/containment-doesn-t-work-containment-does-buy-time-it-could-slow-it/) [Rick Bright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-bright/) > [Marylou was watching Dean as she had watched him clear across the country and back, out of the corner of her eye--with a sullen,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-kerouac/marylou-was-watching-dean-as-she-had-watched-him-clear-across-the/) [Jack Kerouac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-kerouac/) > [His face contained for me all possibilities of fierceness and sweetness, pride and submissiveness, violence, self-containment. I never saw more in it than I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-munro/his-face-contained-for-me-all-possibilities-of-fierceness-and/) [Alice Munro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-munro/) > [“Let your passion and courage swell in you until you can no longer be contained by fear.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryant-mcgill/let-your-passion-and-courage-swell-in-you-until-you-can-no-longer-be/) [Bryant McGill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bryant-mcgill/) > [“I have been driven to desperation more times than I can count. But it is here that I have been driven to the greatest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-d-lounsbrough/i-have-been-driven-to-desperation-more-times-than-i-can-count-but-it/) [Craig D. 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