Quotes from Brian Herbert

To negotiate, both parties must want something that is tangible and compatible. If one party wishes only the destruction of the other, no solution can exist. —Landsraad League records, Salusan proceedings

Here the spice was everywhere: in the air, food, garments, wall hangings and rugs. Melange was intertwined with sietch life as much as water.

Some lies are easier to believe than the truth. —Orange Catholic Bible

Memory and History are two sides of the same coin. In time, however, History tends to slant itself toward a favorable impression of events, while Memory is doomed to preserve the worst aspects.

Un hombre que no desea correr riesgos está condenado a no aprender jamás, ni a madurar, ni a vivir.

Unceasing warfare gives rise to its own social conditions, which have been similar throughout the ages. One such condition is a permanent state of alertness to ward off attack. Another is the rule of the autocrat. —CAMMAR PILRU, Ixian Ambassador in Exile Treatise on the Downfall of Unjust Governments

Facts mean nothing when they are preempted by appearances. Do not underestimate the power of impression over reality. —CROWN PRINCE RAPHAEL CORRINO, The Rudiments of Power

Consider human life: We are animals, yet are expected to be so much more. Although honor requires us to make altruistic decisions, even acting for the benefit of other people keeps coming back to self interest, no matter how much one attempts to conceal it. —REVEREND MOTHER RAQUELLA BERTO-ANIRUL

Beneath a world—in its rocks, its dirt and sedimentary overlays—there you find the planet's memory, the complete analog of its existence, its ecological memory. —PARDOT KYNES, An Arrakis Primer

Owing to the seductive nature of machines, we assume that technological advances are always improvements and always beneficial to humans.

There are weapons you cannot hold in your hands. You can only hold them in your mind. -Bene Gesserit Teaching

There are rules, but people invariably find ways of getting around them. So it is with laws. A true leader must understand such things and be prepared to take advantage of each situation.

I am their Emperor, and they will do as I say.

If stated reasons don't sit well with your conscience or stand the test of logic, look for deeper motivations.

Death can be a friend, but only if he comes calling at the right time. —Navachristianity text (disputed translation)

La ciencia peca de arrogancia al creer que, cuanto más desarrollamos la tecnología y más aprendemos, mejor será nuestra vida.

Like minds do not always blend. They can be an explosive mixture.

His father had always taught him to be careful to consider the whole picture, from the tiniest to the largest elements.

Each moment is already an eternity- the Titan Barbarossa, born Vilhelm Jayther

We create our own future by our own beliefs, which control our actions. A strong enough belief system, a sufficiently powerful conviction, can make anything happen. This is how we create our consensus reality, including our gods. —REVEREND MOTHER RAMALLO, Sayyadina of the Fremen

When the shepherd is a wolf, the flock becomes only so much meat.

Shai-Hulud defends his treasure, Selim said, his deep blue eyes distant but full of energy. The Zensunni believe sandworms are devils but Shaitan works more harm through one man Like Naib Dhartha than through all the creatures of the desert.

Every hammer has the innate capacity to strike a nail. Every human mind has the innate capacity for greatness. But not every hammer is properly used, nor is every human mind. —DRAIGO ROGET, Mentat debriefing for Venport Holdings

Many elements of the Imperium believe they hold the ultimate power: the Spacing Guild with their monopoly on interstellar travel, CHOAM with its economic stranglehold, the Bene Gesserit with their secrets, the Mentats with their control of mental processes, House Corrino with their throne, the Great and Minor Houses of the Landsraad with their extensive holdings. Woe to us on the day that one of those factions decides to prove the point.