Quotes from Brian Herbert

Looking around, Ishmael noted that the humans in control here didn't seem to care. Why is their religious fervor acceptable, while ours is a matter of scorn?

The purpose of argument is to change the nature of truth. —Bene Gesserit Precept I

The Universe operates on a basic principle of economics: everything has its cost. We pay to create our future, we pay for the mistakes of the past. We pay for every change we make Ã¢â'¬Â¦ and we pay just as dearly if we refuse to change. —Guild Bank Annals, Philosophical Register

The revolutionary environmentalists twist science to get what they want, saying they're using the best available science to determine public policy, when in fact these are code words for cherry picking from a repertoire of biased science studies. Arguing with the Greenies' faulty science is like shouting into the wind, because they will disregard or minimize evidence that disputes any position they are trying to assert. Your points will be ignored, and you will be demonized.

The greatest of mankind's criminals are those who delude themselves into thinking they have done "the right thing." —RAYNA BUTLER, sermons on Salusa Secundus

Music should make the spirit soar, take the breath away, touch the soul. Your work was just…pleasant tones, adequately performed.

Vor stared for a moment at his own reflection in the familiar mirrored face, remembering some of the stupid jokes his friend had told and the innovative military games they had played together. Seurat had never harmed him in any way.

The robot responded with surprising sarcasm. "I am aware of the various bodily orifices humans possess. Therefore, I invite you to take a power tool and insert it where the—

Would it … would it be possible for me to speak with them?" "No," the secondary said. In his exalted position, Iblis Ginjo was unaccustomed to hearing such a response.

Jool Noret, we admire you. You are the scourge of Omnius." "I am merely doing my job.

Poritrin nobles professed to follow gentle, bucolic Navachristianity, but their core beliefs did not extend to their daily lives. They had their festivals, and embraced religious trappings, but the Poritrin upper classes did little to demonstrate their true faith.

Truth belongs to those who control that perspective.

My father lied to me! He distorted the events, taking credit, hiding the extent of the brutality and suffering—even Omnius knew it. On the other hand, Serena had told him the truth.

Savant, doesn't it strike you as somewhat…hypocritical that we fight to keep humans free from the domination of machines, while at the same time some of our own League Worlds use slaves?

Successful creative energy involves the harnessing of controlled madness. I am convinced of this. —ERASMUS, The Mutability of Organic Forms

It's said that the Fremen scum drink the blood of their dead. Not the blood, sir. But all of a man's water ultimately, belongs to his people - to his tribe./ The human body is composed of some seventy percent water by weight./ A dead man, surely, no longer REQUIRES that water.

We can never atone for all the harm we cause in our lifetimes. We each make decisions based on personal priorities. In the process, people are invariably shunted aside. Someone suffers. —teaching of the new Philosophical Academy

Arrakis is ours because we have taken it," Selim announced. "We have learned to survive under the harshest circumstances, without depending upon the benevolence of strangers or trade with offworld intruders.

I have never been attracted to a person's pretentious demeanor. A gaudy surface often obscures a hidden agenda. Rather, I trust the quiet, unassuming person much more than one who constantly needs to remind others of his accomplishments and embellish them. —EMPEROR RODERICK CORRINO

Tell her nothing is impossible. Tell her that love is what separates humans from other living creatures, not hatred. Not violence—

Inflexible convictions are powerful things. But are they a suit of armor or a prison cell? A weapon or a weakness? —EMPEROR JULES CORRINO, strategic briefing on unrest in the former Unallied Planets

The successful executive is like a poker player, either concealing his emotions or showing false ones, so that others cannot use them against him. —AURELIUS VENPORT, The Legacy of Business

in preservation canisters, so they could be installed into any cymek walker. Now

I can envision calculations all the way to infinity," she said, as if in a trance. "I don't have to write them down.