Frank Herbert

“A ruler must learn to persuade and not to compel.”

“The past may show the right way to behave if you live in the past, Stil, but circumstances change.”

“When I am Weaker Thn You, I ask you 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.”

“Often I must Speak otherwise than I Think. This is Called Diplomacy.”

“To Suspect your Own Mortality is to Know the Beginning of Terror; To Learn Irrefutably that you are mortal is to Know the End of Terror.”

“If I always behave with propriety, no matter what it costs me to suppress my own desires, then that is the measure of me. Such is the essence of self-control.”

“Ambitions tend to Remain undisturbed by Realities.”

“Too Much Knowledge never makes for Simple Decisions.”

“Плътта се предава. Вечността прибира онова, което е нейно. За кратък миг телата ни са разплискали водите, танцували са опиянени от любов към живота и към самите себе си, поиграли са с някои причудливи идеи, сетне са подложили глави под топора на Времето. Как можем да го наречем? Случил съм се. Не съществувам...но съм се случил.”

“O you who know what we suffer here, do not forget us in your prayers.”

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

“In all of my universe I have seen no law of nature, unchanging and inexorable. This universe presents only changing relationships which are somtimes seen as laws by short-lived awareness. These fleshy sensoria which we call self are ephemera withering in the blaze of infinity, fleetingly aware of temporary conditions which confine our activities and change as our activities change. If you must label the absolute, use its proper name: Temporary.”

“The universe does not work by our rules”

“One uses power by grasping it lightly. To grasp too strongly is to be taken over by power, and thus to become its victim.”

“If you focus your awareness only upon your own rightness, then you invite the forces of opposition to overwhelm you.”

“We’ve lost something vital, I tell you. When we lost it, we lost the ability to make good decisions. We fall upon decisions these days the way we fall upon an enemy—or wait and wait, which is a form of giving up, and we allow the decisions of others to move us. Have we forgotten that we were the ones who set this current flowing?”

“A voice hissed: "He sheds tears!"It was taken around the ring "Usal gives moisture to the dead!"He felt fingers touch his damp cheek, heard the awed whispers.”

“I cannot lie to you any more than I could lie to myself,” Paul said. “I know this. Every man should have such an auditor.”

“Abandon certainty! That's life's deepest command. That's what life's all about. We're a probe into the unknown, into the uncertain. Why can't you hear Muad'Dib? If certainty is knowing absolutely an absolute future, then that's only death disguised! Such a future becomes now!”

“They were undoubtedbly sincere in subscribing to the argument that nuclear weapons were a reserve held for one purpose: defense of humankind should a threatening 'other intelligence' ever be encountered.”

“We know the major conditions wherein this large populace may turn upon its keepers - One: When they find a leader. This is the most volatile threat to the powerful; they must retain control of leaders.Two: When the populace recognises its chains. Keep the populace blind and unquestioning.Three: When the populace perceives a hope of escape from bondage. They must never even believe that escape is possible!”

“There are illusions of popular history which a successful religion must promote: Evil men never prosper; only the brave deserve the fair; honesty is the best policy; actions speak louder than words; virtue always triumphs; a good deed is its own reward; any bad human can be reformed; religious talismans protect one from demon possession; only females understand the ancient mysteries; the rich are doomed to unhappiness.”

“Every civilization depends on the quality of the individuals it produces. If you over-organize humans, over-legalize them, suppress their urge to greatness-- they cannot work and their civilization collapses”

“Belief can be manipulated. Only knowledge is dangerous.”

“The surest way to keep a secret is to make someone think they already know the answer.”

“The day hums sweetly when you have enough bees working for you.”

“You aren't thinking or really existing unless you're willing to risk even your own sanity in the judgement of your existence.”

“Never attempt to reason with people who know they are right!”

“Maud’Dib could indeed, see the Future, but you must understand the limits of this power. Think of sight. You have eyes, yet cannot see without light. If you are on the floor of a valley, you cannot see beyond the valley. Just so, Maud’Dib could not always choose to look across the mysterious terrain. He tells us that a single obscure decision of prophecy, perhaps the choice of one word over another, could change the entire aspect of the future. He tells us “The vision of time is broad, but when you pass through it, time becomes a narrow door.” And always, he fought the temptation to choose a clear, safe course, warning “That path leads ever down into stagnation.”

“Mankind has only one science… its the science of discontent.”

“When you imagine mistakes, there can be no self-defense.”

“A stone is heavy and the sand is weighty; but a fool's wrath is heavier than them both.”

“The vision of time is broad, but when you pass through it, time becomes a narrow door.”

“For now is my grief heavier than the sands of the seas, she thought. This world has emptied me of all but the oldest purpose: tomorrow's life.”

“Any road followed precisely to its end leads precisely nowhere. Climb the mountain just a little bit to test that it's a mountain. From the top of the mountain, you cannot see the mountain.”

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

“There was pain in him - like a blister, all that was left of some lost yesterday that Time had pruned off him.”

“The willow submits to the wind and prospers until one day it is many willows - a wall against the wind.”

“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 concept of progress acts as a protective mechanism to shield us from the terrors of the future.”

“Full moon calls thee-- Shai-hulud shall thou see; Red the night, dusky sky, Bloody death didst thou die. We pray to a moon: she is round-- Luck with us will then abound, What we seek for shall be found In the land of solid ground.”

“Em tempos, os homens entregavam o pensamento às máquinas, na esperança de que isso os libertasse. Mas só permitiu que outros homens com máquinas os escravizassem”

“Education is no substitute for intelligence.”

“Survival is the ability to swim in strange water.”

“Never obliterate a man unthinkingly, the way an entire fief might do it through some due process of law. Always do it for an overriding purpose—and know your purpose!”

“When he wanted, he could radiate charm and sincerity, but I often wonder in these later days if anything about him was as it seemed. I think now he was a man fighting constantly to escape the bars of an invisible cage.”

“Show me a completely smooth operation and I'll show you someone who's covering mistakes. Real boats rock.”

“What 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.”

“If you need something to worship, then worship life - all life, every last crawling bit of it! We're all in this beauty together!”

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