Quotes from Frank Herbert

Major flaw in government arise from a fear of making radical internal changes even though a need is clearly seen.

The writing of history is largely a process of diversion. Most historical accounts distract attention from the secret influences behind great events.

It is impossible to live in the past, difficult to live in the present and a waste to live in the future.

Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.

Hope clouds observation.

The ferocity we show our foes must be tempered by the lesson we hope to teach.

Guilt starts as a feeling of failure.

To come under siege was the inevitable fate of power.

Law always chooses sides on the basis of enforcement power. Morality and legal niceties have little to do with it when the real question is: Who has the clout?

There exists a limit to the force even the most powerful may apply without destroying themselves. Judging this limit is the true artistry of government. Misuse of power is the fatal sin.

Dune was a world of paradox now—a world under siege, yet the center of power. To come under siege, he decided, was the inevitable fate of power.

Intelligence takes chances with limited data in an arena where mistakes are not only possible but also necessary.

Kindness is the beginning of cruelty.

Enemies make you stronger, allies make you weaker.

The stakes in conflict do not change. Battle determines who will control the wealth or its equivalent.

When politics and religion are intermingled, a people is suffused with a sense of invulnerability, and gathering speed in their forward charge, they fail to see the cliff ahead of them

When religion and politics ride in the same cart, the whirlwind follows.

What I'm saying in my books boils down to this: Mine religion for what is good and avoid what is deleterious. Don't condemn people who need it. Be very careful when that need becomes fanatical.

Irreverence is a most necessary ingredient of religion. Not to speak of its importance in philosophy. Irreverence is the only way left to us for testing our universe.

Remember: Bureaucracy elevates conformity ... Make that elevates 'fatal stupidity' to the status of religion.

Religions often partake of the myth of progress that shields us from the terrors of an uncertain future.

Every judgment teeters on the brink of error. To claim absolute knowledge is to become monstrous. Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty.

It must certainly be more dangerous to live in ignorance than to live with knowledge.

A leader, you see, is one of the things that distinguishes a mob from a people.