Quotes from Frank Herbert

Paul took a place in the line behind Chani. He had put down the black feeling at being caught by the girl. In his mind now was the memory called up by his mother's barked reminder: "My son's been tested with the gom jabbar!" He found that his hand tingled with remembered pain.

And good administrators?" "Oh, they depend on verbal orders. They never lie about what they've done if their verbal orders cause problems, and they surround themselves with people able to act wisely on the basis of verbal orders. Often, the most important piece of information is that something has gone wrong. Bad administrators hide their mistakes until it's too late to make corrections.

the most precious substance in the universe is the spice Melange…The spice extends life… expands consciousness… gives them the ability to fold space…that is, travel to any part of the universe without moving.

Humans must never submit to animals.' "A dry sob shook her. In a low voice, she said: "I've been so lonely." "It should be one of the tests," the old woman said. "Humans are almost always lonely.

The more I find out, the more I realize that I don't know what's going on." "How fortunate that you have discovered the way of wisdom

Bitterness I understand, the Duke said. But let us not rail about justice as long as we have arms and freedom to use them.

When you live upon Arrakis," she had said, "khala, the land is empty. The moons will be your friends, the sun your enemy.

He recalled another thing the old woman had said about a world being the sum of many things—the people, the dirt, the growing things, the moons, the tides, the suns—the unknown sum called nature, a vague summation without any sense of the now. And he wondered: What is the now?

The Atreides are known to start late getting there growth.

I come only to ask a simple question. Is Muad'Dib's death to be followed by the moral suicide of all men? Is that the inevitable aftermath of a Messiah?

The Duke said: "Paul, I'm doing a hateful thing, but I must." He stood beside the portable poison snooper that had been brought into the conference room for their breakfast. The thing's sensor arms hung limply over the table, reminding Paul of some weird insect newly dead. The Duke's

Much that was called religion has carried an unconscious attitude of hostility toward life. True religion must teach that life is filled with joys pleasing to the eye of God, that knowledge without action is empty. All men must see that the teaching of religion by rules and rote is largely a hoax.

Paul crouched at the ready and, as he had been trained to do after first blood, called out: "Do you yield?

We know this moment of supreme power contained Failure. There can only be one answer. That completely accurate and total prediction is lethal.

He could close his eyes and recall the shouts of the crowds. So that is what they hope, he thought. And he remembered what the old Reverend Mother had said: Kwisatz Haderach. The memories touched his feelings of terrible purpose, shading this strange world

When I am weaker than you, I ask you for freedom because that is according to your principles; when I am stronger than you, I take away your freedom because that is according to my principles. —WORDS OF AN ANCIENT PHILOSOPHER

Non devo aver paura. La paura uccide la mente. La paura è la piccola morte che porta alla distruzione totale. Affronterò la mia paura. Farò che scivoli sopra di me, che passi attraverso me. E quando sarà passata, il mio occhio interiore scruterà il suo sentiero. Ma dov'è andata la paura non ci sarà nulla. Io soltanto ci sarò. Io, e nient'altro.

You have square thoughts which resist circles.

A world is supported by four things…." She held up four big-knuckled fingers. "…the learning of the wise, the justice of the great, the prayers of the righteous and the valor of the brave. But all of these are as nothing…." She closed her fingers into a fist. "…without a ruler who knows the art of ruling. Make that

The proper teaching is recognized with ease. You can know it without fail because it awakens within you that sensation which tells you this is something you've always known." There

There will be sadness, Alia intoned. I remind you that all things are but beginning, forever beginning. Worlds wait to be conquered. Some within the sound of my voice will attain exalted destinies. You will sneer at the past, forgetting what I tell you now: within all differences there is unity.

How could he deny the jewels of posterity within his loins?

A bad administrator is more concerned with reports than with decisions. He wants the hard record which he can display as an excuse for his errors.

I have been a stranger in a strange land