Jessica stopped beside him, said: 'What delicious abandon in the sleep of a child.' He spoke mechanically: 'If only adults could relax like that.' 'Yes.' 'Where do we lose it?' he murmured. 'We do, indeed, lose something,' she said.
Frank HerbertEvery judgment teeters on the brink of error. To claim absolute knowledge is to become monstrous. Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty.
Frank HerbertIf I'd been born in my grandfather's time, I'd have made my grandfather's mistakes. Theres no doubt of it. I just don't want to make my grandfather's mistakes today.
Frank HerbertWhen a wise man does not understand, he says: "I do not understand." The fool and the uncultured are ashamed of their ignorance. They remain silent when a question could bring them wisdom.
Frank HerbertThe Fremen were supreme in that quality the ancients called "spannungsbogen" -- which is the self-imposed delay between desire for a thing and the act of reaching out to grasp that thing.
Frank HerbertI don't worry about inspiration, or anything like that. It's a matter of just sitting down and working.
Frank HerbertI give you the chameleon, whose ability to blend itself into the background tells you all you need to know about the roots of ecology and the foundations of a personal identity
Frank HerbertMost lives are a flight from selfhood. Most prefer the truths of the stable. You stick your head into the stanchions and munch contentedly until you die. Others use you for their purposes. Not once do you look outside the stable to lift your head and be your own creature.
Frank HerbertGovernments can be useful to the governed only so long as inherent tendencies toward tyranny are restrained.
Frank HerbertSince every individual is accountable ultimately to the self, the formation of that self demands our utmost care and attention.
Frank HerbertThis wise man observed that wealth is a tool of freedom. But the pursuit of wealth is the way to slavery.
Frank Herbertthe meeting between ignorance and knowledge, between brutality and culture - it begins in the dignity with which we treat the dead
Frank HerbertCan you collect chaos? Not collecting, that is the ultimate gathering. What can you gather without gathering yourself.
Frank HerbertAny road followed precisely to its end leads precisely nowhere. Climb the mountain just a little bit to test it's a mountain. From the top of the mountain, you cannot see the mountain.
Frank HerbertWithout change, something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.
Frank HerbertIf you focus your awareness only upon your own rightness, then you invite the forces of opposition to overwhelm you.
Frank HerbertThe singular multiplicity of this universe draws my deepest attention. It is a thing of ultimate beauty. Leto II
Frank HerbertThe surest way to keep a secret is to make people believe they already know the answer.
Frank HerbertThe person who experiences greatness must have a feeling for the myth he is in. He must reflect what is projected upon him. And he must have a strong sense of the sardonic. This is what uncouples him from belief in his own pretensions. The sardonic is all that permits him to move within himself. Without this quality, even occasional greatness will destroy a man.
Frank HerbertA ruler must learn to persuade and not to compel... he must lay the best coffee hearth to attract the finest men... a good ruler has to learn his world's language... it's different for every world... the language of the rocks and growing things... the language you don't hear just with your ears... the Mystery of Life... not a problem to solve, but a reality to experience... Understanding must move with the flow of the process.
Frank HerbertClinging to any form of conservatism can be dangerous. Become too conservative and you are unprepared for surprises. You cannot depend on luck. Logic is blind and often knows only its own past. Logic is good for playing chess but is often too slow for the needs of survival.
Frank HerbertWhat 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.
Frank HerbertYou can't build politics on love. People aren't concerned with love; it's too disordered. They prefer despotism. Too much freedom breeds chaos.
Frank HerbertDemagogues are so easy to identify. They gesture a lot and speak with pulpit rhythms, using words that ring of religious fervour and god-fearing sincerity. Sincerity with nothing behind it takes so much practice. The practice can always be detected. Repetition. Great attempts to keep your attention on words.
Frank HerbertEcology 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.
Frank HerbertYou see, gentlemen, they have something to die for. They've discovered they're a people. They're awakening.
Frank HerbertArrakis teaches the attitude of the knife - chopping off what's incomplete and saying: "Now it's complete because it's ended here."
Frank HerbertGive 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.
Frank HerbertOnce men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.
Frank Herbert