Selected Motorcycle Quotes

Motorcycle Quotes: Here are some gems about riding motorcycles for those of us who enjoy being on two wheels, headed somewhere; maybe nowhere.

Most motorcycle problems are caused by the nut that connects the handlebars to the saddle.

One of the things that make motorcycling so great is because it never fails to give you a feeling of freedom and adventure. - Steve McQueen

"Dad, can I get a motorcycle when I grow up?"

"Son, you can't do both." 

I'd rather be riding my motorcycle thinking about God than sitting in church thinking about my motorcycle.

I spent all my money on motorcycles, guns, rock and roll music, whiskey and women...the rest I just wasted.

If I could marry my motorcycle, I'd roll her right up to the altar.— Flip Wilson

Love is the feeling you get when you like something as much as your motorcycle — Hunter S. Thompson

You can't go faster if you're wrapped in plaster.

Riding in a car is like watching a movie. Riding a motorcycle is like starring in a movie.

Anybody can jump a motorcycle. The trouble begins when you try to land it. —Evil Knievel

Never dress for the weather, always dress for the fall.

Sometimes, you find yourself in the middle of nowhere; and sometimes, in the middle of nowhere, you find yourself. 

A motorcycle functions entirely in accordance with the laws of reason, and a study of the art of motorcycle maintenance is really a miniature study of the art of rationality itself. That's all the motorcycle is, a system of concepts worked out in steel. — Robert M. Pirsig (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance)

It didn’t look that far on the map...

Riding a motorcycle isn't a matter of Life or Death. It's much more important than that. 

Faster, faster, faster, until the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death. —Hunter Thompson

And I to my motorcycle

Parked like the soul of the junkyard

Restored, a bicycle fleshed

With power, and tore off

Up Highway 106, continually

Drunk on the wind in my mouth,

Wringing the handlebar for speed,

Wild to be wreckage forever.

James Dickey (Cherrylog Road)

Four wheels move the body. Two wheels move the soul.

Respect the person who has seen the dark side of motorcycling and lived.

Young riders pick a destination and go... Old riders pick a direction and go.

There’s no such thing as bad riding weather, just bad riding gear.

The best alarm clock is sunshine on chrome.

A friend is someone who'll get out of bed at 2 am to drive his pickup to the middle of nowhere to get you when you're broken down.

Calling upon my years of experience, I froze at the controls.– Stirling Moss

There's something ugly about a new bike on a trailer.

Everyone crashes. Some get back on. Some don't. Some can't.

Only a Biker knows why a dog sticks his head out of a car window.

"Oh crap!" is usually the moment when your plan parts ways with reality.

Got a $5 head? Get a $5 helmet. 

You see things vacationing on a motorcycle in a way that is completely different from any other. - Robert M Pirsig

If you think you don't need a helmet, you probably don't. 

Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, Wow! What a Ride! —Hunter S. Thompson

Never trade the thrills of living for the security of existence.

A zest for living must include a willingness to die. 

NEVER argue with a woman holding a torque wrench.

The only good view of a thunderstorm is in your rearview mirror.

Pie and coffee are as important as gasoline.

Sometimes it takes a whole tankful of fuel before you can think straight.

Riding faster than everyone else only guarantees you'll ride alone.

Never hesitate to ride past the last street light at the edge of town.

A cold hamburger can be reheated quite nicely by strapping it to an exhaust pipe and riding forty miles.

Never do less than forty miles before breakfast.

If you don't ride in the rain you don't ride. 

A bike on the road is worth two in the shed.

I want to leave this world the same way I came into it: Screaming and covered in blood.

A good mechanic will let you watch without charging you for it. 

Sometimes the fastest way to get there is to stop for the night.

Two-lane blacktop isn't a highway it's an attitude.

When you look down the road, it seems to never end, but you better believe it does.

A motorcycle can't sing on the streets of a city.

Keep your bike in good repair: Motorcycle boots are NOT comfortable for walking.

Remember to pay as much attention to your partner as you do your carburetor.

Well-trained reflexes are quicker than luck.

Learn to do counterintuitive things that may someday save your butt.

The twisties, not the superslabs, separate the riders from the squids.

Catching a yellow jacket in your shirt at 70 mph can double your vocabulary.

If you want to get somewhere before sundown, you can't stop at every tavern. 

Practice wrenching on your own bike.

Don't argue with an 18-wheeler.

Never be ashamed to unlearn an old habit.

Maintenance is as much art as it is science.

A good long ride can clear your mind, restore your faith and use up a lot of fuel.

No one ever complains about the cost of their second helmet.

If you can't get it going with bungee cords and electrician's tape it's serious.

If you ride like there's no tomorrow there won't be.

Gray-haired riders don't get that way from pure luck.

Do not mix whiskey and gasoline. 

There are drunk riders. There are old riders. There are NO old, drunk riders.

Thin leather looks good in the bar, but it won't save your butt from road rash when you go down.

Always replace the cheapest parts first.

You can forget what you do for a living when your knees are in the breeze.

Never ride faster than your guardian angel can fly.

It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters in the end. —Ursula K. LeGuin

Middle age starts when you have been warned to slow down, not by a motorcycle cop, but by your doctor.

What do you call a motorcyclist who doesn't wear a helmet? An organ donor. 

Remember folks, street lights timed for 35 mph are also timed for 70 mph. 

If you want to complain about the pace being set by the road captain, you better be prepared to lead the group yourself.

It takes both pistons and cylinders to make a bike run. One is not more important than the other.

If the countryside seems boring, stop, get off your bike, and go sit in the ditch long enough to appreciate what was here before the asphalt came.

It’s a world with 20,000 television channels...get as far away from it as you can. 

Work to ride and ride to work.

Burn rubber, not your soul, baby. 

Sometimes the best communication happens when you're on separate bikes. 

When I finished high school, I wanted to take all my graduation money and buy myself a motorcycle. But my mom said no. See, she had a brother who died in a horrible motorcycle accident when he was 18.  And I could just have his motorcycle. 

I drive way too fast to worry about cholesterol. 

Life may begin at 30, but it doesn't get really interesting until about 150.

Time spent riding a motorcycle is not deducted from your lifespan. 

The wet, cold and miserable days are the ones when legends are born.

You can go as fast as you like on a motorcycle - just never hurry on a motorcycle.

Saddlebags can never hold everything you want, but they CAN hold everything you need.

Life without pleasurable pursuits is hardly worth living, and while the best things may be free, some pretty excellent ones cost money and have wheels. — Paul D’Orleans

A good rider can overcome marginal equipment. However, even the best equipment can’t overcome a marginal rider.

I have to lead...I'm allergic to dust!

Sometimes I get off the bike before it has come to a complete stop.

Ride a BMW GS...it'll make your butt look smaller.

When my mood gets too hot and I find myself wandering beyond control I pull out my motor-bike and hurl it top-speed through these unfit roads for hour after hour. — T.E. Lawrence

When we travel, we are children again. And when we travel by motorcycle, we have nothing to think of when we wake but throwing a few belongings into our panniers and riding off down the road, unencumbered by regrets and concerns. On a motorcycle, every day is still an adventure and a new beginning. On a motorcycle, I am still a boy on a bike.