Frank Herbert Quotes

Written words, if carefully laid down, represent the civilized ideal of reason.

There is no escape—we pay for the violence of our ancestors.

The people I distrust most are those who want to improve our lives but have only one course of action.

Whether a thought is spoken or not it is a real thing and it has power, " Tuek said. "You might find the line between life and death among the Fremen to be too sharp and quick.

There is only one true wealth in all the universe--living time.

They are not mad. They're trained to believe, not to know. Belief can be manipulated. Only knowledge is dangerous.

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.

The Fremen have a simple, practical religion, ” he said.“Nothing about religion is simple.

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer.

The man without emotions is the one to fear.

motivating people, forcing them to your will, gives you a cynical attitude toward humanity. It degrades everything it touches.

You have a nicety of awareness of the difference between a blade's edge and its tip.

Democracy is susceptible to being led astray by having scapegoats paraded in front of the electorate. Get the rich, the greedy, the criminals, the stupid leader and so on ad nauseam.

Create or arouse such unbridled forces and you built carnal fantasies of enormous complexity. You could lead whole populations around by their desires, by their fantasy projections.

Give as few orders as possible, " his father had told him once long ago. "Once you've given orders on a subject, you must always give orders on that subject.

I must rule with eye and claw — as the hawk among lesser birds. - Duke Leto Atreides

Delay is as dangerous as the wrong answer.

It doesn't follow that the riots mean permanent hostility toward him.

My son will wear the title well, the Duke thought, and realized with a sudden chill that this was another death thought.

He uses the nice old words so rich in tradition to be sure I know he means it.

There are proven ways to win the loyalty of tough, strong, ferocious men: play on the certain knowledge of their superiority, the mystique of secret covenant, the esprit of shared suffering.

I never thought it would be easy to serve God, " she said. "I just didn't think it would be this hard.

Deceit is a tool of statecraft, " Irulan agreed."There are limits to power, as those who put their hopes in a constitution always discover, " Paul said.

On Caladan, we ruled with sea and air power, " the Duke said. "Here, we must scrabble for desert power. This is your inheritance, Paul.

One must always keep the tools of statecraft sharp and ready. Power and fear – sharp and ready.

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.

We had something few experience. We were joined in our strengths rather than in our weaknesses.

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

Life cannot find reasons to sustain it, cannot be a source of decent mutual regard, unless each of us resolves to breathe such qualities into it.

The great mass of humankind possesses an unmistakable unit-identity. It can be one thing. It can act as a single organism.

To accept a little death is worse than death itself.

He felt the inability to grieve as a terrible flaw.

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.

But one learns from books and reels only that certain things can be done. Actual learning requires that you do those things.

CHOAM is business and business follows profits.

Growth is limited by the necessity which is present in the least amount. And naturally, the least favorable condition controls the growth rate

Every man carries his own past with him, " Hayt said.

Only fools prefer the past!

I am a leg of the death tripod that will destroy our foes.

They compose poems to their knives.

You can not go on forever stealing what you need without regard to those who come after.

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

It has occurred to me more than once that holy boredom is good and sufficient reason for the invention of free will.

The test of a man isn’t what you think he’ll do. It’s what he actually does.

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?

I warn you that ignorance thrives on hysteria.

Money said, "I warn you that ignorance thrives on hysteria.

There are many degrees of sight and many degrees of blindness. What senses do we lack that we cannot see another world all around us?

He's taking the change well?" She asked.Except for getting a bit overtired. He's excited, but what 15-year-old wouldn't be under these circumstances?

Life produces a different taste each time you take it.