Every civilization must contend with an unconscious force which can block, betray, or countermand almost any conscious intention of the collectivity.
Frank HerbertThe stakes in conflict do not change. Battle determines who will control the wealth or its equivalent.
Frank HerbertIf all those around you believe some particular thing, you will soon be tempted to share in that belief.
Frank HerbertHistorians exercise great power and some of them know it. They recreate the past, changing it to fit their own interpretations. Thus, they change the future as well.
Frank HerbertWe can say that Maud'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.
Frank HerbertThe difference between sentiment and being sentimental is the following: Sentiment is when a driver swerves out of the way to avoid hitting a rabbit on the road. Being sentimental is when the same driver, when swerving away from the rabbit, hits a pedestrian.
Frank HerbertHow often it is that the angry man rages denial of what his inner self is telling him.
Frank HerbertIf you think of yourselves as helpless and ineffectual, it is certain that you will create a despotic government to be your master. The wise despot, therefore, maintains among his subjects a popular sense that they are helpless and ineffectual.
Frank HerbertBeware of the truth, gentle Sister. Although much sought after, truth can be dangerous to the seeker. Myths and reassuring lies are much easier to find and believe. If you find a truth, even a temporary one, it can demand that you make painful changes. Conceal your truths within words. Natural ambiguity will protect you then.
Frank HerbertWhat has mood to do with it? You fight when the necessity arises—no matter the mood! Mood's a thing for cattle or making love or playing the baliset. It's not for fighting.
Frank HerbertOne uses power by grasping it lightly. To grasp too strongly is to be taken over by power, and thus to become its victim.
Frank HerbertAnd always, he fought the temptation to choose a clear, safe course, warning 'That path leads ever down into stagnation.
Frank HerbertTry looking into that place where you dare not look! You'll find me there, staring out at you!
Frank HerbertThe person who takes the banal and ordinary and illuminates it in a new way can terrify. We do not want our ideas changed.
Frank HerbertThe willow submits to the wind and prospers until one day it is many willows - a wall against the wind.
Frank HerbertThink you of the fact that a deaf person cannot hear. Then, what deafness may we not all possess? What senses do we lack that we cannot see and cannot hear another world all around us?
Frank HerbertIntelligence takes chances with limited data in an arena where mistakes are not only possible but also necessary.
Frank HerbertDemocracy is susceptible to being led astray by having scapegoats paraded in front of the electorate.
Frank HerbertIt is a wise man that does know the contented man is never poor, whilst the discontented man is never rich.
Frank HerbertMajor flaw in government arise from a fear of making radical internal changes even though a need is clearly seen.
Frank HerbertReligion, too, is a weapon. What manner of weapon is religion when it becomes the government?
Frank HerbertAll 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.
Frank HerbertThey say they seek security and quiet, the condition they call peace. Even as they speak they create the seeds of turmoil and violence.
Frank HerbertUnfortunately most criticism is by poseurs. They use their comments about someone else's work as a platform on which to strike poses. What they're really saying is: "Look at me! Look at me!"
Frank HerbertGood subjects must feel guilty. The guilt begins as a feeling of failure. The good autocrat provides many opportunities for failure in the populace.
Frank HerbertI never thought it would be easy to serve God," she said. "I just didn't think it would be this hard.
Frank HerbertNo matter how exotic human civilization becomes, no matter the developments of life and society nor the complexity of the machine/human interface, there always come interludes of lonely power when the course of humankind, the very future of humankind, depends upon the relatively simple actions of single individual.
Frank HerbertBeyond a critical point within a finite space, freedom diminishes as numbers increase. This is as true of humans as it is of gas molecules in a sealed flask. The human question is not how many can possibly survive within the system, but what kind of existence is possible for those who so survive.
Frank HerbertIrreverence is a most necessary ingredient of religion. Not to speak of its importance in philosophy. Irreverence is the only way left to us for testing our universe.
Frank HerbertWhen politics and religion are intermingled, a people is suffused with a sense of invulnerability, and gathering speed in their forward charge, they fail to see the cliff ahead of them
Frank HerbertI now believe that evolution, or deevolution, never ends short of death, that no society has ever achieved an absolute pinnacle, that all humans are not created equal. In fact, I believe attempts to create some abstract equalization create a morass of injustices that rebound on the equalizers. Equal justice and equal opportunity are ideals we should seek, but we should recognize that humans administer the ideals and that humans do not have equal ability.
Frank Herbert