Robert M. Pirsig Quotes

Civilization is the process of setting man free from men.

Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy. The savage's whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of his tribe. Civilization is the process of setting man free from men.

Is the system going to flatten you out and deny you your humanity, or are you going to be able to make use of the system to the attainment of human purposes?

I wish to speak a word for Nature, for absolute Freedom and Wildness, as contrasted with a Freedom and Culture merely civil, - to regard man as an inhabitant, or a part and parcel of Nature, rather than a member of society.

Real freedom lies in wildness, not in civilization.

When a man cannot choose, he ceases to be a man.

You know, our sense of individuality is just the number one target of civilization.

No matter what a man does, he is not fully sane or human unless there is a spirit of freedom in him

It is man's vision of a world fit for rational, civilized humanity which leads him to dare and to suffer to build societies free from want and fear. Concepts such as truth, justice and compassion cannot be dismissed as trite when these are often the only bulwarks which stand against ruthless power.

I wish to live for myself. I should never want to be trapped.

To really belong, we have got, first, to get it clear with ourselves that we do not belong and do not want to belong to an unfree world. As free men and women we have got to reject much of it and to know why we are rejecting it.

If I want my time wasted, I'll waste it myself.

People don't want other people to be people.

Focus on yourself -- do what you want, when you want, without having to consider anyone else's agenda.

I do not want to be civilized. I want to be liberated.

If you want to be free, be free, because there's a million things to be.

I am completely a loner. In my head I want to feel I can be anywhere. There is a sort of recklessness that being a loner allows me.

Just real. I want to have the freedom to do whatever I want. And more importantly, I want to have the freedom to bring everyone else along with me.

I don't want to have to start being unselfish again. The great thing about being on your own is you do what you damned well like.

I see myself on top, doing what I love to do, and doing it the way I want to do it. No rules, just doing my own thing.

Let's let people live their lives and do it the way they want to do it.

I'm going to be me as I am, and you can beat me or jail me or even kill me, but I'm not going to be what you want me to be.

I want to live life on my own terms.

If I want to dress myself a certain way, I don't want to have to rely on someone else to do it for me.

I belong wherever I want to be.