“You look at where you're going and where you are and it never makes sense, but then you look back at where you've been and a pattern seems to emerge. And if you project forward from that pattern, then sometimes you can come up with something.”

—  Robert M. Pirsig, book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974)
Source: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "You look at where you're going and where you are and it never makes sense, but then you look back at where you've been …" by Robert M. Pirsig?
Robert M. Pirsig photo
Robert M. Pirsig164
American writer and philosopher 1928–2017

Related quotes

Robert M. Pirsig photo

“You look at where you're going and where you are and it never makes sense, but then you look back at where you've been and a pattern seems to emerge.”

Robert M. Pirsig book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Source: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

James Burke (science historian) photo

“You can only know where you're going if you know where you've been.”

James Burke (science historian) (1936) British broadcaster, science historian, author, and television producer

Connections (1979), 9 - Countdown

Peter Greenaway photo

“I've always been fascinated by maps and cartography. A map tells you where you've been, where you are, and where you're going -- in a sense it's three tenses in one.”

Peter Greenaway (1942) British film director

In an interview in Film Comment, May/June 1990
Interviews

Terry Pratchett photo

“If you do not know where you come from, then you don't know where you are, and if you don't know where you are, then you don't know where you're going. And if you don't know where you're going, you're probably going wrong.”

Terry Pratchett book I Shall Wear Midnight

Source: I Shall Wear Midnight

Brian Selznick photo

“If you've ever wondered where your dreams come from when you go to sleep at night, just look around. This is where they are made.”

Brian Selznick book The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Source: The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Flannery O’Connor photo

“Where you come from is gone, where you thought you were going to never was there, and where you are is no good unless you can get away from it”

Flannery O’Connor book Wise Blood

Source: Wise Blood

Bob Dylan photo

“If you're looking to get silly, you better go back to from where you came. because the cops don't need you and man they expect the same.”

Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist

Laurie Halse Anderson photo

“This is where you can find your soul if you dare. Where you can touch that part of you that you've never dared look at before. Do not come here and ask me to show you how to draw a face. Ask me to help you find the wind.”

Laurie Halse Anderson Speak

Source: Speak

Chuck Palahniuk photo

“All you can do is hope for a pattern to emerge, and sometimes it never does. Still, with a plan, you only get the best you can imagine. I'd always hoped for something better than that.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Lullaby

Source: Lullaby

Richard Proenneke photo

“There is always a sadness about packing. I guess you wonder if where you're going is as good as where you've been.”

Richard Proenneke (1916–2003) American hermit

Source: One Man's Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey

Related topics