Literary Birthday – 6 September – Robert M. Pirsig

Robert M. Pirsig was born on 6 September 1928 and died on 24 April 2017.

Robert M. Pirsig Quotes

1. The only Zen you can find on the tops of mountains is the Zen you bring up there.
2. The place to improve the world is first in one’s own heart and head and hands, and then work outward from there.
3. When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called a Religion.
4. The real cycle you’re working on is a cycle called yourself.
5. Physical distance between people has nothing to do with loneliness. It’s psychic distance.
6. Metaphysics is a restaurant where they give you a thirty thousand page menu, and no food.
7. The past exists only in our memories, the future only in our plans.

Robert M. Pirsig was an American writer and philosopher best known for his philosophical novels Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values and Lila: An Inquiry into Morals. Published in 1974, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance combines the story of a motorcycle journey across the United States with an exploration of values, technology, and the nature of ‘Quality’. Pirsig’s journey with his young son provided the setting for the book, which became an international bestseller and a modern philosophical classic. His second novel, Lila, was published in 1991. Set during a sailing trip along the Hudson River, it developed his ideas about his ‘Metaphysics of Quality’. The book was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Pirsig received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1974. A collection of his writings, On Quality: An Inquiry Into Excellence, was published posthumously in 2022. His work continues to influence readers interested in philosophy, writing, technology, and the search for meaning.

Source for Image: The Robert Pirsig Association

by Amanda Patterson
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