Robert M. Pirsig Quotes

I think that in a general sense, the idea of getting comfortable with the truth in life is uncomfortable.

Better to accept the wretched truth than struggle, twisting to make a wish a reality.

Trying to get people to face reality and see the world the way it really is is an absolutely critical aspect of leadership, in my view.

I believe in facing reality. But only because I don't like turning my back on it.

I have a hard time making movies that affirm life and say life is a good and happy place. That's not true about the world.

I know I'm going to send my three kids off to college someday. I know my parents will pass away someday. It's one thing to say, 'I'll be able to deal with that day when it comes,' and it's another thing to find yourself at that day, dealing with it.

It's always better to face the truth, no matter how uncomfortable, than to continue coddling a lie.

If there is suffering, then it's best to accept it, because it won't go away just because you pretend it's not there. If there is joy, then it's best to accept that too, even though you're afraid it might end one day.

Better to know the quick pain of truth than the ongoing pain of a long-held false hope.

Better the hard truth, I say, than the comforting fantasy. And in the final tolling it often turns out that the facts are more comforting than the fantasy.

It is the opposite of ignorance—it is intellectual honesty: to be willing to accept reality and to call things what they are even when it is hard.

Sometimes it seems like if you open up the door to reality and invite it in, it will just come flowing.

Weep if you must Parting is hell But life goes on So sing as well.

Anything in life that we don't accept will simply make trouble for us until we make peace with it.

I think that one should recognize reality even when one doesn't like it; indeed, especially when one doesn't like it.

Even knowing the ending was sad, I wouldn't have deprived myself the beauty of the story.

Don't be sad, don't be angry, if life deceives you! Submit to your grief - your time for joy will come, believe me.

You do not have to love what is going on in your life, but you must accept that it, whatever it is, is going on. As long as you do not accept reality, you are powerless to define the role you will play.

We live in what is, but we find a thousand ways not to face it. Great theater strengthens our faculty to face it.

That's what I mean by radical truth. I mean accepting reality.

He learned to live with the truth. Not to accept it, but to live with it.

When I allow myself to feel all my feelings instead of numbing myself to them, they pass more quickly. I spent my entire life telling everyone I was "OK, damn it." But when you surrender to the [uncomfortable] feelings, there are gifts on the other side: Allowing yourself to feel loneliness forces you to reach out. Letting yourself get angry gives you strength, energy and motivation.

He learned to live with the truth. Not to accept it, but to live with it. It was like living with an elephant. His room was tiny, and every morning he had to squeeze around the truth just to get to the bathroom. To reach the armoire to get a pair of underpants he had to crawl under the truth, praying it wouldn't choose that moment to sit on his face. At night, when he closed his eyes, he felt it looming above him.

We want everyone to prepare themselves for the reality that we are not going to be able to recover significant numbers of people.