Frank Herbert Quotes

Paired opposites define your longings and those longings imprison you.

Peace for any prolonged period of time is impossible. Humans have a natural thirst for chaos and war is the most readily available form of chaos.

A man's flesh is his own; the water belongs to the tribe.

To stay awake all night adds a day to your life.

There's hope left in these dusty chords. There's a song left in our rusty hearts. We are torn and frayed but love remains.

A good companion is one you wouldn't mind dying with.

Chance is the nature of our universe. [...] madness represents a chaotic reservoir of surprises. Some surprises can be valuable.

Often I must speak otherwise than I think. This is called diplomacy.

Balance is what distinguishs a people from a mob.

Ask what Infinity might produce and the only answer possible was, "Anything." Any good, any evil; any god, any devil.

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

Democracy is susceptible to being led astray by having scapegoats paraded in front of the electorate.

The day hums sweetly when you have enough bees working for you.

The mind goes on working no matter how we try to hold it back.

Then, as his planet killed him, it occurred to Kynes that his father and all the other scientists were wrong, that the most persistent principles of the universe were accident and error.

But it's well known that repression makes a religion flourish.

Governments always commit their entire populations when the demands grow heavy enough. By their passive acceptance, these populations become accessories to whatever is done in their name.

Dangers lurk in all systems. Systems incorporate the unexamined beliefs of their creators. Adopt a system, accept its beliefs, and you help strengthen the resistance to change

We accept too damned many things on the explanations of people who could have good reasons for lying.

Since every individual is accountable ultimately to the self, the formation of that self demands our utmost care and attention.

Why is it that foolishness repeats itself with such monotonous precision?

Only gods can safely risk perfection ... it's a dangerous thing for a man.

In my estimation, more misery has been created by reformers than by any other force in human history.

One must cast off old agonies as a snake casts off its skin--only to grow a new set and accept all of their limitations.

Religion must remain an outlet for people who say to themselves, "I am not the kind of person I want to be." It must never sink into an assemblage of the self-satisfied.

When you think you know something: that is a most perfect barrier against learning.

To endure oneself may be the hardest task in the universe.

Those who would repeat the past must control the teaching of history.

Ecology is often confused with environmentalism, while in fact, environmentalism often leaves out the fact that people, too, can be a legitimate part of an ecosystem.

Journalism is the entertainment business.

The young reed dies so easily. Beginnings are times of great peril.

Can you collect chaos? Not collecting, that is the ultimate gathering. What can you gather without gathering yourself.

Love is not a mood, but a dynamic way of being.

I don't speak ... I operate a machine called language. It creaks and groans, but is mine own.

In politics, the tripod is he most unstable of all structures. It's be bad enough without the complication of a feudal trade culture which turns its back on most science.

Most men go through life unchallenged, except at the final moment.

What do such machines really do? They increase the number of things we can do without thinking. Things we do without thinking-there’s the real danger.

Beaurocracy destroys initiative.

Control the coinage and the courts — let the rabble have the rest.

The whole universe sat there, open to the man who could make the right decisions.

Educational bureaucracies dull a child's questing sensitivity.

People don't vote. Instinct tells them it's useless.

Prophets have a way of dying by violence.

There are problems in this universe for which there are no answers. Nothing. Nothing can be done.

The act of saying that things exist that cannot be described in words shakes a universe where words are the supreme belief.

Always prepare secondary ways of dealing with problems.

Most of us choose our companions and surroundings to reflect ourselves.

The vision of time is broad, but when you pass through it, time becomes a narrow door.

The most terrifying things in the universe came from human minds.

I am not the kind of person I want to be.