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

“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.”

“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.”

“Jessica stopped beside him: ‘What delicious abandon in the sleep of a child.’He spoke mechanically: ‘If only adults could relax like that.’ ‘Yes.’‘When do we lose it?’ He murmured…‘We do indeed lose something,’ she said.”

“It is impossible to live in the past, difficult to live in the present and a waste to live in the future.”

“It is difficult to live in the present, pointless to live in the future and impossible to live in the past.”

“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!”