Quotes from Brian Herbert

People often surprise me, but not usually in a good way.

It requires a desperate and lonely sort of courage to challenge the accepted wisdom upon which social peace of mind rests. —CROWN PRINCE RAPHAEL CORRINO, In Defense of Change in the Face of Tradition

Too much knowledge never makes for simple decisions. —CROWN PRINCE RAPHAEL CORRINO, Discourses on Leadership

Those who seek fame and glory are least qualified to possess it.

Just repeating a statement often and with great vehemence does not make it a fact, and no amount of repetition can make a rational person believe it. —DRAIGO ROGET, report to Venport Holdings, "Analysis of Fanatical Patterns

Traditionally, Guild Navigators masked their appearance, keeping themselves hidden in thick clouds of spice gas. It was generally believed that the process of becoming a Navigator transformed a person into something other than human, something more evolved. The Guild said nothing to confirm or deny the speculations.

The new Heighliner program is going to be the most profitable of all time for us. Large sums will be pouring into our accounts from this contract. House Vernius will get twenty-five percent of all the solaris we save the Spacing Guild during the first decade.

The law is not a ball of twine, to be picked at and unraveled until there is nothing left of it.

Those without a true sense of history fail to see how volatile and transient human leadership is, even on the scale of empires. When viewed from the perspective of a mere lifetime, we tend to see our governmental structures as permanent and unchangeable. This is entirely false. —FAYKAN CORRINO I, first Emperor after the Butlerian Jihad

Pay attention, Shaddam. Spice is vital, and yet all production is controlled by a single House on a single world. The threat of a bottleneck is enormous, even with Imperial oversight and pressure from CHOAM. For the stability of the Imperium, we need a better source of melange. We should create it synthetically if we have to. We need an alternative." He turned to the Crown Prince, his dark eyes glittering. "One that's in our control.

The capacity to learn is a gift; The ability to learn is a skill; The willingness to learn is a choice.

Aristotle raped reason. He implanted in the dominant schools of philosophy the attractive belief that there can be discrete separation between mind and body. This led quite naturally to corollary delusions such as the one that power can be understood without applying it, or that joy is totally removable from unhappiness, that peace can exist in the total absence of war, or that life can be understood without death. —ERASMUS, Corrin Notes

The first step in innovation is to know that a thing can be created. After that, the rest is a matter of detail.

My Sihaya,' he said as he held her, 'I have loved you for five thousand years.

Some say it is better to rule in hell than serve in heaven. That is a defeatist attitude. I intend to rule everywhere, not just in Hell." - General Agamemnon New Memoirs

How will I be remembered by my children? This is the true measure of a man.

Simplicity is the most difficult of all concepts.

Any school for free citizens must begin by teaching distrust, not trust. It must teach questioning, not acceptance of stock answers.

Never underestimate the power of the human mind to believe what it wants to believe, no matter the conflicting evidence.

The greatest and most important problems of life cannot be solved. They can only be outgrown.

Look inside yourself and you can see the universe.

Even the poorest House can be rich in loyalty. Allegiance that must be purchased by bribes or wages is hollow and flawed, and could break at the worst possible moment. Allegiance that comes from the heart, though, is stronger than adamantium and more valuable than purest melange.

Life is filled with tests, one after another, and if you don't recognize them, you are certain to fail the most important ones.

It's so much more interesting to study a ... damaged world. I find it difficult to learn anything in a place that's too civilized.