

“In astrology the rules happen to be about stars and planets, but they could be about ducks and drakes for all the difference it would make. It's just a way of thinking about a problem which lets the shape of that problem begin to emerge. The more rules, the tinier the rules, the more arbitrary they are, the better. It's like throwing a handful of fine graphite dust on a piece of paper to see where the hidden indentations are. It lets you see the words that were written on the piece of paper above it that's now been taken away and hidden. The graphite's not important. It's just the means of revealing the indentations. So you see, astrology's nothing to do with astronomy. It's just to do with people thinking about people.”
― Mostly Harmless
― Mostly Harmless

“We’re in such a hurry most of the time we never get much chance to talk. The result is a kind of endless day-to-day shallowness, a monotony that leaves a person wondering years later where all the time went and sorry that it’s all gone. ”
― Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
― Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

“We have artists with no scientific knowledge and scientists with no
artistic knowledge and both with no spiritual sense of gravity at all,
and the result is not just bad, it is ghastly.”
― Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
artistic knowledge and both with no spiritual sense of gravity at all,
and the result is not just bad, it is ghastly.”
― Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

“In a car you're always in a compartment, and because you're used to it you don't realize that through that car window everything you see is just more TV. You're a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame.
On a cycle the frame is gone. You're completely in contact with it all. You're in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming.”
― Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
On a cycle the frame is gone. You're completely in contact with it all. You're in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming.”
― Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values

“But to tear down a factory or to revolt against a government or to avoid repair of a motorcycle because it is a system is to attack effects rather than causes; and as long as the attack is upon effects only, no change is possible. The true system, the real system, is our present construction of systematic thought itself, rationality itself, and if a factory is torn down but the rationality which produced it is left standing, then that rationality will simply produce another factory. If a revolution destroys a systematic government, but the systematic patterns of thought that produced that government are left intact, then those patterns will repeat themselves in the succeeding government. There’s so much talk about the system. And so little understanding.”
― Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
― Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
Shadowe’s 2024 Year in Books
Take a look at Shadowe’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by Shadowe
Lists liked by Shadowe