Quotes from Brian Herbert

It is said that there is nothing firm, nothing balanced, nothing durable in all the universe—that nothing remains in its original state, that each day, each hour, each moment, there is change. —Panoplia Propheticus of the Bene Gesserit O

Deftly handled, myths and legends can become tools or weapons, while mere facts are just . . . facts.

An Emperor rules through wealth, military might, alliances, and influence. But he keeps his rule through the wisdom of his decisions, the respect of his subjects, and the momentum of history. Should he lose any one of those factors, his position is greatly weakened.

According to a few sparse anthropological notes he had found, the Fremen were the remnants of an ancient wandering people, the Zensunni, who had been slaves dragged from world to world. After being freed, or perhaps escaping, from their captivity they had tried to find a home for centuries, but were persecuted everywhere they went. Finally, they'd gone to ground here on Arrakis—and somehow they had thrived.

Law always moves in the direction of protecting the strong and oppressing the weak. Dependence upon force corrodes justice. — CROWN PRINCE RAPHAEL CORRINO, Precepts of Civilization

The mystery of life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced. —Meditations from Bifrost Eyrie, Buddislamic Text

The difference between delirium and insight is only a matter of perspective. —DR. WELLINGTON YUEH, private medical journals

The leaders of the Butlerian Jihad did not adequately define artificial intelligence, failing to foresee all possibilities of an imaginative society. Therefore, we have substantial gray areas in which to maneuver.

It is difficult to make power lovable—this is the dilemma of all governments. —PADISHAH EMPEROR HASSIK III, private Kaitain journals

Norma said with great portent, "Ignorance is a powerful armor against the truth.

Never be in the company of anyone with whom you would not want to die. —Fremen Saying

My son, this is more essential than anything you will learn on an industrial world: people are more important than machines.

Practice can take a student only so far. To truly advance, he must experience the real thing. —GILBERTUS ALBANS, Mentat manual

Those who do not actively pursue progress and innovation soon find themselves at the tail end of history.

Things change in the Imperium. Alliances form and dissolve on whims.

Tlaloc realized how the human race had gone stagnant, how people had become so dependent on machines that they had nothing left but apathy. Their goals were gone, their drive, their passion. When they should have had nothing to do but unleash their creative impulses, they were too lazy to perform even the work of the imagination

We are human not because of our physical form, but because of our underlying nature. Even when fitted with a machine body, a man may have a heart and soul Ã¢â'¬Â¦ but not always. People made of flesh can be monsters, too. —PTOLEMY, Laboratory Sketches

Spacing Guild: one leg of the political tripod maintaining the Great Convention. The Guild was the second mental-physical training school (see Bene Gesserit) after the Butlerian Jihad. The Guild monopoly on space travel and transport and upon international banking is taken as the beginning point of the Imperial Calendar.

Workers. He remembered how his father had reacted to the word. "Next you'll want to call them employees. They are slaves!" Ulf had thundered as they stood in the overseer's office back on Hagal. "They have no rights.

Every man has the same final destination: death at the end of life's road. But the path we travel makes all the difference. Some of us have maps and goals. Others are just lost. — PRINCE RHOMBUR VERNIUS

The heartbeat steadied, their minds opened Ã¢â'¬Â¦ and the flow began, like a torrent through an open dam. Lobia poured her life into Anirul, transferring memories, aspects of personality, every bit of data contained in her long life. One day, Anirul herself would pass the information to another, younger Sister. In this manner, the Sisterhood's collective memory was amassed and made potentially available to all Bene Gesserit.

Suspicions have a way of becoming "facts," even if they have no basis in truth. —PRINCESS IRULAN, The Book of Muad'Dib

One uses power by grasping it lightly. To grasp with too much force is to be taken over by power, thus becoming its victim.

Interesting. But you must realize that our lack of religion is in itself anathema to the minds of zealots. They refer to us as atheists, godless demons. Humans love to engage in name calling, since it enables them to categorize an adversary... which invariably involves dehumanizing an opponent. In our case, dear Omnius, the dehumanization was accomplished from the outset.