Quotes from Frank Herbert

still wanted those genetic characteristics carried by the Atreides.

mystery of life isn't a problem to solve, but a reality to experience.

You have no position from which to negotiate. Certain things will be done. You will comply willingly, your compliance will be forced, or we will act without you.

They've lost the initiative, which means they've lost the war." Gurney

All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible. Such people have a tendency to become drunk on violence, a condition to which they are quickly addicted.

The flesh surrenders itself. Eternity takes back its own. Our bodies stirred these waters briefly, danced with a certain intoxication before the love of life and self, dealt with a few strange ideas, then submitted to the instruments of Time.

He felt that his mentat faculties had been dulled, let out a long, shuddering breath. A psychic shadow passed over him. In the emotional darkness of it, he felt himself waiting for some absolute sound—the snap of a branch in a jungle.

And that day dawned when Arrakis lay at the hub of the universe with the wheel poised to spin.

We should grant power over our affairs only to those reluctant to hold it, and only under conditions that increase that reluctance.

Persoana capabil? s? ia un lucru banal È™i obiÈ™nuit pentru a-l prezenta într-o nou? lumin? are darul de a însp?imânta. Nu vrem ca ideile noastre s? fie schimbate. Ne simÈ›im ameninÈ›aÈ›i de asemenea tentative. ?tiu deja tot ce-i important de È™tiut! spunem noi. Apoi apare Schimb?torul È™i r?stoarn? toate vechile noastre idei.

Usul gives moisture to the dead!

He realized suddenly that it was one thing to see the past occupying the present, but the true test of prescience was to see the past in the future.

It leads to self-fulfilling prophecy and justifications for all manner of obscenities," Leto said. "This … rhetorical despotism, Lord?" "Yes! It shields evil behind walls of self-righteousness which are proof against all arguments against the evil.

She stared at him. He senses truth! Could he be the one? Could he truly be the one? She extinguished the excitement, reminding herself: "Hope clouds observation.

Guilt and blame grew defuse when memory covered a millennia.

Bene Gesserit view that humans were life designed by evolution to create order. And how does that help us against these disorderly women who hunt us? What branch of evolution are they? Is evolution just another name for God?

ecology was the science of understanding consequences.

Listening carefully to the teacher, one acquires an education.

Memories rolled in his mind like the toothless mutterings of old women.

Sometime I must recount for you the legend of the phoenix

Show me a completely smooth operation and I'll show you someone who's covering mistakes.

and the mystery of life isn't a problem to solve but a reality to experience.

These are illusions of popular history which a successful religion must promote: Evil men never prosper; only the brave deserve the fair; honesty is the best policy; actions speak louder than words; virtue always triumphs; a good deed is its own reward; any bad human can be reformed; religious talismans protect one from demon possession; only females understand the ancient mysteries; the rich are doomed to unhappiness … —From the Instruction Manual: Missionaria Protectiva

History is a constant race between invention and catastrophe.