Quotes by Frank Herbert

We should grant power over our affairs only to those reluctant to hold it, and only under conditions that increase that reluctance.

How could one man, one ritual, hope to knit such immensity into a garment fitted to all men?

Any man who retreats into a cave which has only one opening deserves to die.

Maturity imposes its own behavior. One of our lessons make those imperatives available to consciousness. Modify instincts.

…A world is supported by four things ‘…the learning of the wise, the justice of the great, the prayers of the righteous and the valor of the brave…

Face your fears or they will climb over your back.

Madness in method, that is genius.

He said that you were the ultimate artist at probing the soul, your own soul first.

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

Religion, too, is a weapon. What manner of weapon is religion when it becomes the government?

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.

Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts perhaps the fear of a loss of power.

The greatest and most important problems of life are all fundamentally insoluble.

Fear is the mind-killer.

To plant a tree is to plant a hope.

Good governance never depends upon laws, but upon the personal qualities of those who govern.

The beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we do not understand.

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

Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty.

Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice.

The surest way to keep power is to be the least afraid of losing it.

A ruler must learn to persuade and not to compel.

In politics, the tripod is the most unstable of all structures.

The mind can go either direction under stress—toward positive or toward negative.

A man’s character is his fate.

When I am weaker than you, I ask for freedom because that is according to your principles; when I am stronger than you, I take away your freedom because that is according to my principles.

Nature does not make mistakes. Right and wrong are human categories.

Science is often seen as the enemy of faith, and yet both science and religion seek to understand the truth.

The mind commands the body and it obeys. The mind orders itself and meets resistance.

Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts... perhaps the fear of a loss of power.

Without change, something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.

Faith manages.

The instinct for survival is human.

The purpose of argument is to change the nature of truth.

The highest function of ecology is the understanding of consequences.

Education is no substitute for intelligence.

Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.

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

Societies tend to behave like water; they follow the course of least resistance.

A person needs new experiences. They jar something deep inside, allowing you to grow.

Humans are almost always lonely.

The function of science fiction is not always to predict the future but sometimes to prevent it.

A leader is one of the things that distinguishes a mob from a people. He maintains order.

Survival is the ability to swim in strange water.

Power attracts the corruptible. Absolute power attracts the absolutely corruptible.

To know a thing well, know its limits. Only when pushed beyond its tolerances will true nature be seen.

Knowing where the trap is—that's the first step in evading it.

Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.

Governments, if they endure, always tend increasingly toward aristocratic forms.

When religion and politics travel in the same cart, the riders believe nothing can stand in their way.

The mystery of life isn't a problem to solve, but a reality to experience.

Time is a threefold present: the present as we experience it, the past as a present memory, and the future as a present expectation.

Seek freedom and become captive of your desires.

The highest function of ecology is understanding consequences.

Absolute power does not corrupt absolutely, absolute power attracts the corruptible.

The people follow the example of those above.

He who controls the spice controls the universe.

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

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

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