Quotes from Frank Herbert

In the week before their departure to Arrakis, when all the final scurrying about had reached a nearly unbearable frenzy, an old crone came to visit the mother of the boy, Paul.

non c'è nessuna cosa che si possa ottenere senza il suo opposto.

Thus did he break through Tim's veils

must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

La vida del profeta nos encierra en su visión —pensó Leto—. Y un profeta solo puede escapar de su visión forzando su muerte de una manera que no había vislumbrado en ella.»

And the first lesson of all was the basic trust that he could learn. It is shocking to find how many people do not believe they can learn, and how many more believe learning to be difficult.

Nul ne peut vraiment leur en vouloir. On ne peut que les mépriser.

Gli umani vivono meglio quando ognuno ha il suo proprio posto dove stare, quando ognuno sa a quale punto appartiene, nello schema delle cose, e ciò che può riuscire a fare. Distruggetegli tutto questo, e distruggerete la persona.

Creation is discovery. God discovered us in the Void because we moved against a background which He already knew.

the target dummy beside it patched and padded, looking like an ancient foot soldier maimed and battered in the wars. There stand I, Hawat thought.

Un individ n-are sens decât prin relaÈ›ia pe care o întreÈ›ine cu ansamblul societ??ii. Dac? aceast? societate nu este logic organizat? în straturi, nimeni nu-È™i va putea g?si locul, de la cel mai sublim pân? la cel mai umil.

In the old ways and old religions, there'd been no future, only an endless now.

bureaucracies always become voracious aristocracies after they attain commanding power.

For the others, we can say that Muad'Dib learned rapidly because his first training was in how to learn. And the first lesson of all was the basic trust that he could learn. It is shocking to find how many people do not believe they can learn, and how many more believe learning to be difficult.

There must be terrible purpose in it…the pain and fear had been terrible. He understood terrible purposes. They drove against all odds. They were their own necessity. Paul felt that he had been infected with terrible purpose. He did not know yet what the terrible purpose was.

Forces that we cannot understand permeate our universe. We see the shadows of those forces when they are projected upon a screen available to our senses, but understand them we do not.

This . . . rhetorical despotism, Lord?" "Yes! It shields evil behind walls of self-righteousness which are proof against all arguments against the evil.

Lady Jessica ordered you to differentiate between the wolf and the dog, between ze'ed and ke'leb. By her definition a wolf is someone with power who misuses that power. However, between wolf and dog there is a dawn period when you cannot distinguish between them.

There remained facts which no curse or prayer or litany could wash from existence. Flight would not leave such facts behind, they could not be ignored.

It's an old, old trick of autocratic rule. Good subjects must feel guilty. The guilt begins as a feeling of failure. The good autocrat provides many opportunities for failure in the populace.

He seemed too submissive to Paul, but then the Sardaukar had never been prepared for such happenings as this day. They'd never known anything but victory which, Paul realized, could be a weakness in itself. He put that thought aside for later consideration in his own training program.

Am I good or evil? Orne asked himself. He forced his attention onto the question, but it was like wading upstream in a swift river. His thoughts twisted and turned, showed a tendency to scatter. He said: "I'm ... if I'm one with all the universe, then I am God. I am creation. I am the miracle. How can that be good or evil?

In our society, people shouldn't be quick to take offense. It's frequently suicidal.

Bureaucracy destroys initiative. There is little that bureaucrats hate more than innovation, especially innovation that produces better results than the old routines. Improvements always make those at the top of the heap look inept. Who enjoys appearing inept? —A GUIDE TO TRIAL AND ERROR IN GOVERNMENT, BENE GESSERIT ARCHIVES