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About this quote

What does it mean?
Quality cannot be fully defined; any definition reduces it, something less than itself.
In plain terms
Defining Quality diminishes it.
What can you take from it?
Accept that some concepts resist precise definition.

Where it applies

  • spiritual practice
  • artistic critique

Putting it to work

  • use examples rather than definitions

Questions to consider

  • When have you needed a definition for a vague concept?
  • How did you handle it?

Another view

Working without a definition can make communication harder.

More from Robert M. Pirsig

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  3. Any philosophic explanation of Quality is going to be both false and true precisely because it is a philosophic explanation. The process of philosophic explana…

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