Frank Herbert - God Emperor of Dune (1981)

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You know it's love when you want to give joy and damn the consequences.

Frank Herbert
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.

Frank Herbert
It is said that there is a principle of conflict which originated with the single cell and has never deteriorated.

Frank Herbert
Why is it that foolishness repeats itself with such monotonous precision?

Frank Herbert
If we deny emotion, we lose all touch with our internal universe.

Frank Herbert
Machine makers always run the risk of becoming totally machine.

Frank Herbert
Governments can be useful to the governed only so long as inherent tendencies toward tyranny are restrained.

Frank Herbert
If you live in bad faith, lies will appear to you like the truth.

Frank Herbert
No matter how much we ask after the truth, self-awareness is often unpleasant. We do not feel kindly toward the Truthsayer.

Frank Herbert
You should never be in the company of anyone with whom you would not want to die.

Frank Herbert
Membership in a conspiracy, as in an army, frees people from the sense of personal responsibility.

Frank Herbert
History is a constant race between invention and catastrophe.

Frank Herbert
Dangers lurk in all systems. Systems incorporate the unexamined beliefs of their creators. Adopt a system, accept its beliefs, and you help strengthen the resistance to change

Frank Herbert
Prisons are needed only to provide the illusion that courts and police are effective. They're a kind of job insurance.

Frank Herbert
Words can carry any burden we wish. All that's required is agreement and a tradition upon which to build.

Frank Herbert
When you think you know something: that is a most perfect barrier against learning.

Frank Herbert
I never thought it would be easy to serve God," she said. "I just didn't think it would be this hard.

Frank Herbert
The best prophets lead you up to the curtain and let you peer through for yourself.

Frank Herbert
Small souls who seek power over others first destroy the faith those others might have in themselves.

Frank Herbert
Radicals are only to be feared when you try to suppress them. You must demonstrate that you will use the best of what they offer.

Frank Herbert
If you want immortality, then deny form. Whatever has form has mortality. Beyond form is the formless, the immortal.

Frank Herbert
There has never been a truly selfless rebel, just hypocrites—conscious hypocrites or unconscious hypocrites, it's all the same.

Frank Herbert
Most believe that a satisfactory future requires a return to an idealized past, a past which never in fact existed.

Frank Herbert
The singular multiplicity of this universe draws my deepest attention. It is a thing of ultimate beauty. Leto II

Frank Herbert
The problem of leadership is inevitably: Who will play God?" Muad'Dib

Frank Herbert
Caution is the path to mediocrity. Gliding, passionless mediocrity is all that most people think they can achieve.

Frank Herbert
Beware of the truth, gentle Sister. Although much sought after, truth can be dangerous to the seeker. Myths and reassuring lies are much easier to find and believe. If you find a truth, even a temporary one, it can demand that you make painful changes. Conceal your truths within words. Natural ambiguity will protect you then.

Frank Herbert
The truth always carries the ambiguity of the words used to express it.

Frank Herbert
When I need to identify rebels, I look for men with principles

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

Frank Herbert