Quotes from Brian Herbert

Anyone who searches for the meaning of life is on a fool's journey. Human life has no redeeming purpose or value. —the cymek GENERAL AGAMEMNON, A Time for Titans

the tough philosophy of Ginaz taught that there were no accidents, no excuses for failure. Every event was the result of a sequence of actions. Intentions were irrelevant to actual outcomes.

A requirement of creativity is that it contributes to change. Creativity keeps the creator alive. — FRANK HERBERT, unpublished notes

Address the solvable first, instructs the father by way of teaching his son crisis management. That way, he counsels, there is less distraction to tackle more daunting issues.

Written words, if carefully laid down, represent the civilized ideal of reason.

If you are born to power, you must prove you deserve it through good works—or give it up. To do any less is to act without conscience.

Dreams are as simple or as complicated as the dreamer. —LIET-KYNES

heroic leaders often made mistakes ... mistakes that were amplified by the number of followers who were held in thrall by charisma. (Introduction to Dune Messiah)

In Dune and Dune Messiah , he [Frank Herbert] was cautioning against pride and overconfidence, that form of narcissism described in Greek tragedies that invariably led to the great fall.

Human imagination is a powerful thing. It can be a sanctuary from difficult times, a catalyst to change society, or the impetus to create marvelous works of art. On the other hand, an overabundance of imagination can inspire paranoia that impairs one's ability to interact with reality. —Suk School Manual, Psychological Studies

the most dangerous enemy is not the man with the most weapons, but the man with the least to lose.

Humans were foolish to build their own competitors—but they couldn't help themselves. —ERASMUS, philosophical datanotes

A human captive had fought the machines! She had destroyed a robot with her own hands! Amazed, they called out her name.

The simplest solution is an immediate cessation of all hostilities between you and the League of Nobles," Vidad said to Omnius. "You keep your Synchronized Worlds, and the free humans keep their League Worlds. In exchange, the mutual aggression ends. There will be no further deaths, no further violence between machine and man.

Crossing the line from friend to enemy takes only a small step. The opposite journey, however, is far more difficult. —Zensunni wisdom of the desert

Discovery is dangerous . . . but so is life. A man unwilling to take risks is doomed never to learn, never to grow, never to live. —Planetologist Pardot Kynes, An Arrakis Primer, written for his son Liet

Eventually, if Quinto Paolo succeeded in his mission, at least Vorian Atreides would understand. Xavier asked for nothing more.

I cannot grasp the magnitude of your evil" "Proof that you lack imagination

We humans exist on hope. It's what separates us from thinking machines.

Dhartha's deep blue eyes flashed. "This is not about pride, Aurelius Venport. This is only about killing a pest of the desert.

She suspected that Iblis Ginjo was a dangerous, duplicitous man, but saw no one more qualified to take the Jihad where it needed to go. For his own reasons, he did, after all, espouse the same cause as her Sorceresses: the utter annihilation of thinking machines. Iblis would, however, require the closest sort of scrutiny and would have to be handled with excruciating care.

If we give up our humanity to fight the machines, Zufa, then Omnius has already won!

Serena grew angry. How could that representative worry about petty price tags, when the ultimate cost was so much higher? "We will all pay—in blood—if we do not do this. We must strengthen the League and the human species.

Never underestimate the power of the human mind to believe what it wants to believe, no matter the conflicting evidence. —Caedmon Erb, Politics and Reality