The way to see what looks good and understand the reasons it looks good, and to be at one with this goodness as the work proceeds, is to cultivate an inner quietness, a peace of mind so that goodness can shine through.
Robert M. PirsigRead
The bones and flesh and legal statistics are the garments worn by the personality, not the other way around.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes that our true selves are not defined by our physical or legal identities, but rather by our personality and essence.
In this quote, Robert M. Pirsig suggests that our physical form and societal labels are merely superficial coverings that do not represent our true identity. The 'bones and flesh' symbolize the physical aspect of a person, while 'legal statistics' represent societal classifications, such as age or status. Pirsig argues that these elements should not define us; instead, it is our individual personality and inner qualities that truly characterize who we are. This perspective invites a deeper exploration of identity and existence beyond the material realm.
Themes
IdentityPersonalityPhilosophySelfExistence
In practice
Example use cases
In a philosophy class discussing the nature of self.
More from Robert M. Pirsig
All quotes βWhen analytic thought, the knife, is applied to experience, something is always killed in the process.
Robert M. PirsigRead
The Buddha resides as comfortably in the circuits of a digital computer or the gears of a cycle transmission as he does at the top of a mountain.
Robert M. PirsigRead
It's better not to see than to see wrongly.
Robert M. PirsigRead
The truth knocks on the door and you say, go away, I'm looking for the truth, and it goes away. Puzzling.
Robert M. PirsigRead
You want to know how to paint a perfect painting? It's easy. Make yourself perfect and then just paint naturally.
Robert M. PirsigRead
Similar quotes
There is nothing more dangerous than to build a society with a large segment of people in that society who feel that they have no stake in it; who feel that that have nothing to lose. People who have stake in their society, protect that society, but when they don't have it, they unconsciously want to destroy it.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Read
The demons are innumerable, arrive at the most inappropriate times and create panic and terror. But I have learned that if I can master the negative forces and harness them to my chariot, then they can work to my advantage. Lilies often grow out of carcasses' arseholes.
Ingmar BergmanRead
It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.
Albert EinsteinRead
We have to state, without mincing words, that there is an inseparable bond between our faith and the poor. May we never abandon them.
Pope FrancisRead
If people are good because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.
Albert EinsteinRead
I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it.
Thomas JeffersonRead