AtomicQuote

Robert M. Pirsig Quote

Motorcycle maintenance gets frustrating. Angering. Infuriating. That's what makes it interesting.

Robert M. Pirsig

Motorcycle maintenance gets frustrating. Angering. Infuriating. That's what makes it interesting.

Tags: motorcycle maintenance

Related Quotes

It should be inserted here parenthetically that there's a school of mechanical thought which says I shouldn't getting into a complex assembly I don't know anything about. I should have training or le...

Robert M. Pirsig

It should be inserted here parenthetically that there's a school of mechanical thought which says I shouldn't getting into a complex assembly I don't know anything about. I should have training or le...

Tags: do it yourself, mechanics, motorcycle maintenance, motorcycles, sense of accomplishment

You can reduce your anxiety somewhat by facing the fact that there isn't a mechanic alive who doesn't louse up a job once in a while. The main difference between you and the commercial mechanics is th...

Robert M. Pirsig

You can reduce your anxiety somewhat by facing the fact that there isn't a mechanic alive who doesn't louse up a job once in a while. The main difference between you and the commercial mechanics is th...

Tags: learning from mistakes, maintenance, mechanics, motorcycle maintenance

That's all the motorcycle is, a system of concepts worked out in steel. There's no part in it, no shape in it, that is not out of someone's mind [...] I've noticed that people who have never worked wi...

Robert M. Pirsig

That's all the motorcycle is, a system of concepts worked out in steel. There's no part in it, no shape in it, that is not out of someone's mind [...] I've noticed that people who have never worked wi...

Tags: foundry, machining, mechanics, motorcycle maintenance, motorcycles, philosophy, steel, welding

Another one is cleaning up tool that have been used and not put away and are cluttering up the place. This is a good one because one of the first warning signs of impatience is frustration at not bein...

Robert M. Pirsig

Another one is cleaning up tool that have been used and not put away and are cluttering up the place. This is a good one because one of the first warning signs of impatience is frustration at not bein...

Tags: frustration, impatience, motorcycle maintenance

Not everyone understands what a completely rational process this is, this maintenance of a motorcycle. They think it's some kind of knack or some kind of affinity for machines in operation. They are r...

Robert M. Pirsig

Not everyone understands what a completely rational process this is, this maintenance of a motorcycle. They think it's some kind of knack or some kind of affinity for machines in operation. They are r...

Tags: motorcycle, motorcycle maintenance, philosophy, rationality, reason

On any mechanical repair job ego comes in for rough treatment. You're always being fooled, you're always making mistakes, and a mechanic who has a big ego to defend is at a terrific disadvantage. If y...

Robert M. Pirsig

On any mechanical repair job ego comes in for rough treatment. You're always being fooled, you're always making mistakes, and a mechanic who has a big ego to defend is at a terrific disadvantage. If y...

Tags: mechanics, motorcycle maintenance, technicians

There is no perfectly shaped part of the motorcycle and never will be, but when you come as close as these instruments take you, remarkable things happen, and you go flying across the countryside unde...

Robert M. Pirsig

There is no perfectly shaped part of the motorcycle and never will be, but when you come as close as these instruments take you, remarkable things happen, and you go flying across the countryside unde...

Tags: motorcycle maintenance, motorcycles, perfection, philosophy, rationality
About Robert M. Pirsig

Robert Maynard Pirsig (; September 6, 1928 – April 24, 2017) was an American writer and philosopher. He is 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), and he co-authored On Quality: An Inquiry Into Excellence: Selected and Unpublished Writings (2022) along with his wife and editor, Wendy Pirsig.