Robert M. Pirsig Quote

What was behind this smug presumption that what pleased you was bad or at least unimportant in comparison to other things? … Little children were trained not to do just what they liked’ but … but what? … Of course! What others liked. And which others? Parents, teachers, supervisors, policemen, judges, officials, kings, dictators. All authorities.When you are trained to despise just what you like then, of course, you become a much more obedient servant of others — a good slave. When you learn not to do just what you like then the System loves you.

Robert M. Pirsig

What was behind this smug presumption that what pleased you was bad or at least unimportant in comparison to other things? … Little children were trained not to do just what they liked’ but … but what? … Of course! What others liked. And which others? Parents, teachers, supervisors, policemen, judges, officials, kings, dictators. All authorities.When you are trained to despise just what you like then, of course, you become a much more obedient servant of others — a good slave. When you learn not to do just what you like then the System loves you.

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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(1974) and Lila: An Inquiry into Morals (1991), and he co-authored On Quality: An Inquiry Into Excellence: Selected and Unpublished Writings (2022) along with his wife and editor, Wendy Pirsig.