Robert Maynard Pirsig (1928–2017) was an American writer and philosopher. He was the author of the philosophical novels Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values (1974) and Lila: An Inquiry into Morals (1991.)
Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Pirsig studied at the University of Minnesota and attended Benares Hindu University in India, where he studied philosophy. He worked as a technical writer and instructor of English before being hospitalized for mental illness in the early 1960s.
Pirsig’s first and bestselling book was the partly autobiographical Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974.) This lightly fictionalized recounting of a 17-day motorcycle trip he took with his young son Chris and two other people in 1968 explores the place of technology in the modern world and grapples with age-old philosophical conundrums.
Pirsig’s long-awaited sequel was Lila: An Inquiry into Morals (1992;) the story traced a sailboat journey taken by two fictitious characters along America’s eastern coast. It expanded on his philosophical system known as Metaphysics of Quality.
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Quality is a direct experience independent of and prior to intellectual abstractions.
—Robert M. Pirsig
The place to improve the world is first in one’s own heart and head and hands, and then work outward from there.
—Robert M. Pirsig
Topics: Self-improvement, Progress
Any effort that has self-glorification as its final endpoint is bound to end in disaster.
—Robert M. Pirsig
Topics: Failure
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.
—Robert M. Pirsig
Traditional scientific method has always been at the very best, 20-20 hindsight. It’s good for seeing where you’ve been. It’s good for testing the truth of what you think you know, but it can’t tell you where you ought to go.
—Robert M. Pirsig
Topics: Science
Even though quality cannot be defined, you know what quality is.
—Robert M. Pirsig
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