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The real cycle you're working on is a cycle called yourself. The machine that appears to be "out there" and the person that appears to be "in here" are not two separate things. They grow toward Quality or fall away from Quality together.

— Robert M. Pirsig Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974)

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More quotes by Robert M. Pirsig

You see things vacationing on a motorcycle in a way that is completely different from any other.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974)

The bones and flesh and legal statistics are the garments worn by the personality, not the other way around.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974)

Steel can be any shape you want if you are skilled enough, and any shape but the one you want if you are not.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974)

Talk about rationality can get very confusing unless the things with which rationality deals are also included.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974)

The place to improve the world is first in one's own heart and head and hands, and then work outward from there.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Robert M. Pirsig (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.