“The abyss remains. It is pregnant with all the things yet to be. Ah, what gentle violence!”

“Some never participate. Life happens to them. They get by on little more than dumb persistence and resist with anger or violence all things that might lift them out of resentment-filled illusions of security. -Alma Mavis Taraza”

“Ah, Hah! But you see, Baron, I know as a Mentat when you will send the executioner. You will hold back just so long as I am useful. To move sooner would be wasteful and I'm yet of much use. I know what it is you learned from that lovely Dune planet - waste not? True, Baron?-Piter De Vries”

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

“They say they seek security and quiet, the condition they call peace. Even as they speak they create the seeds of turmoil and violence.”

“The convoluted wording of legalisms grew up around the necessity to hide from ourselves the violence we intend toward each other. Between depriving a man of one hour from his life and depriving him of his life there exists only a difference of degree. You have done violence to him, consumed his energy.”

“Ambitions tend to Remain undisturbed by Realities.”