A Quote by Robert M. Pirsig

One thing about pioneers that you don't hear mentioned is that they are invariably, by their nature, mess-makers. They go forging ahead, seeing only their noble, distant goal, and never notice any of the crud and debris they leave behind them.

Robert M. Pirsig

Quote Topics

About Any Behind Debris Distant Forging Forging Ahead Go Goal Hear Invariably Leave Makers Mentioned Mess Nature Never Noble Notice One Thing Only Pioneers Seeing Them Thing

Quote Author

Robert M. Pirsig
American - Philosopher
Born: September 6, 1928

Nothing is bigger than life. There's nothing noble in death. What's noble about never seeing the sunshine again? What's noble about having your legs and arms blown off? What's noble about being an idiot? What's noble about being blind and deaf and dumb? What's noble about being dead?

Dalton Trumbo

Perfectionism and optimalism are not distinct ways of being, an either-or choice, but rather they coexist in each person. And while we can move from perfectionism toward optimalism, we never fully leave perfectionism behind and never fully reach optimalism ahead. The optimalism ideal is not a distant shore to be reached but a distant star that guides us and can never be reached. As Carl Rogers pointed out, ‘The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction, not a destination

Tal Ben-Shahar

Go look at what any liberal says about anybody they disagree with, and especially conservatives, the first thing you're gonna hear them talk about is hate, too much hate. Then you'll hear racist, and then bigoted, and automatically homophobic, intolerant. Just go down the list. And they all believe it about any conservative alive. And, in many of their cases, about any Republican alive.

Rush Limbaugh

Maybe I'd never see him again... maybe he'd gone for good... swallowed up, body and soul, in the kind of stories you hear about... Ah, it's an awful thing... and being young doesn't help any... when you notice for the first time... the way you lose people as you go along ... the buddies you'll never see again... never again... when you notice that they've disappeared like dreams... that it's all over... finished... that you too will get lost someday... a long way off but inevitably... in the awful torrent of things and people... of the days and shapes... that pass... that never stop.

Louis-Ferdinand Celine

When someone is crying, of course, the noble thing to do is to comfort them. But if someone is trying to hide their tears, it may also be noble to pretend you do not notice them.

Daniel Handler

I am moving towards that zone where I don't want to be a replaceable name. This is my goal. I want to hear from the industry that, 'You are the only one who can do this. We will not go ahead with the project if you don't do this.' And I want to hear from the audience that it is worth watching a film that I have done.

Taapsee Pannu

All the past we leave behind; We debouch upon a newer, mightier world, varied world, Fresh and strong the world we seize, world of labor and the march, Pioneers! O Pioneers!

Walt Whitman

Has this world been so kind to you that you should leave with regret? There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.

C. S. Lewis

If you're behind the times, they won't notice you. If you're right in tune with them, you're no better than they are, so they won't care much for you. Be just a little ahead of them.

Shel Silverstein

It's really going to happen. I really won't ever go back to school. Not ever. I'll never be famous or leave anything worthwhile behind. I'll never go to college or have a job. I won't see my brother grow up. I won't travel, never earn money, never drive, never fall in love or leave home or get my own house. It's really, really true. A thought stabs up, growing from my toes and ripping through me, until it stifles everything else and becomes the only thing I'm thinking. It fills me up like a silent scream.

Jenny Downham

Certain people always say we should go back to nature.I notice they never say we should go forward to nature. It seemstometheyare more concerned that we should go back, than about nature.

Adolph Gottlieb

The farther behind I leave the past, the closer I am to forging my own character.

Isabelle Eberhardt

Most movies, I forget about them while I'm watching them. I go every single day. But I've never thought about participating in any way. It's like being at home all day. It was never a goal to me.

David Sedaris

Never try to compel others to change; leave them free to change naturally and orderly because they want to; and they will want to when they find that your change was worthwhile. To inspire in others a desire to chance for the better is truly noble; but this you can do only by leaving them alone, and becoming more noble yourself.

Christian D. Larson

I don’t think it would have all got me quite so down if just once in a while—just once in a while—there was at least some polite little perfunctory implication that knowledge should lead to wisdom, and that if it doesn't, it's just a disgusting waste of time! But there never is! You never even hear any hints dropped on a campus that wisdom is supposed to be the goal of knowledge. You hardly ever even hear the word 'wisdom' mentioned!