Herbert Quotes

I can't give you a sure-fire formula for success, but I can give you a formula for failure: try to please everybody all the time.

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.

We too often forget that not only is there 'a soul of goodness in things evil, ' but very generally also, a soul of truth in things erroneous.

My heart had been touched by him, battered by him, cradled by him as the days passed. He was cruel without meaning to be yet he was kind, and I needed him too much to let myself want him

Older men declare war. But it is youth that must fight and die.

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

We have no quarrel with the German nation, One would not quarrel with a flock of sheep.But, generation after generation, They throw up leaders who disturb our sleep.

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.

The doctrine of the material efficacy of prayer reduces the Creator to a cosmic bellhop of a not very bright or reliable kind.

Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no libraries.

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.

Liberty means refusing to allow some men to use the state to compel other men to serve their interests or opinion.

Don't lose today by worrying about tomorrow!!!

Never say a humorous thing to a man who does not possess humor. He will always use it in evidence against you.

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.

The raconteur knows too well that, if he investigates the truth of the matter, he is only too likely to lose his good story.

[Technology] has taught us how to become gods before we have learned to be men.

The conception of two people living together for twenty-five years without having a cross word suggests a lack of spirit only to be admired in sheep

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.

And I decided I'd rather love too much than not at all.

If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.

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.

a relationship without trust is like a car without gas..you can stay in it all you want, but it won't go anywhere...

if you fooled a person, don't think he or she is a fool...it means, they trusted you more than themselves...

you can't just tell someone to trust you..you gotta show them that they can trust you....

As when we can recall so vividlyWe almost touch, Or think of all the gestures that we failedTo make.