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
Who really can face the future? All you can do is project from the past, even when the past shows that such projections are often wrong. And who really can forget the past? What else is there to know?
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the difficulty of predicting the future based on past experiences and the inescapable nature of our memories.
Robert M. Pirsig's quote delves into the intricate relationship between our past experiences and our ability to anticipate the future. It suggests that while we often rely on our past to guide our projections about what lies ahead, this method is flawed, as our histories can be misleading. The idea that we cannot truly escape our past adds another layer, highlighting how our memories shape our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
Themes
FuturePastProjectionsMemoryExperience
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about personal growth and overcoming past failures.
More from Robert M. Pirsig
All quotes →When analytic thought, the knife, is applied to experience, something is always killed in the process.
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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.
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It's better not to see than to see wrongly.
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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
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