Frank Herbert Quotes

“There was a man so wise,
He jumped into
A sandy place
And burnt out both his eyes!
And when he knew his eyes were gone,
He offered no complaint.
He summoned up a vision
And made himself a saint.
-Children's Verse
from History of Muad'dib”
― Frank Herbert, Dune Messiah

“We tend to become like the worst in those we oppose.”
― Frank Herbert

“There is no secret to balance. You just have to feel the waves.”
― Darwi Odrade

“The only past which endures lies wordlessly within you.”
― Frank Herbert, God Emperor of Dune

“That girl! She was like a touch of destiny”
― Frank Herbert, Dune

“Dune Messiah is the most misunderstood of Frank Herbert's novels. The reasons for this are as fascinating and complex as the renowned author himself.”
― Brian Herbert

“Among my father's most important messages were that governments lie to protect themselves and they make incredibly stupid decisions.”
― Brian Herbert

“When you take your stand along the maker's path, you must remain utterly still. You must think like a patch of sand. Hide beneath your cloak and become a little dune in your very essence.”
― Frank Herbert, Dune

“Jessica leaned beside him, thankful for the moment of rest. She heard Paul pulling at his stillsuit tube, sipped her own reclaimed water. It tasted brackish, and she remembered the waters of Caladan—a tall fountain enclosing a curve of sky, such a richness of moisture that it hadn't been noticed for itself... only for its shape, or its reflection, or its sound as she stopped beside it.

To stop , she thought. To rest... truly rest .

It occurred to her that mercy was the ability to stop, if only for a moment. There was no mercy where there could be no stopping.”
― Frank Herbert, Dune

“Growth is limited by that necessity which is present in the least amount. And, naturally, the least favorable condition controls the growth rate."
"It's rare to find members of a Great House aware of planetological problems," Kynes said. "Water is the least favorable condition for life on Arrakis. And remember that growth itself can produce unfavorable conditions unless treated with extreme care.”
― Frank Herbert

“Far down the corridor, an image-voice screamed: "They denied us the Hajj!"

Jessica saw the slave cribs on Bela Tegeuse down that inner corridor, saw the weeding out and the selecting that spread men to Rossak and Harmonthep. Scenes of brutal ferocity opened to her like the petals of a terrible flower. And she saw the thread of the past carried by Sayyadina after Sayyadina—first by word of mouth, hidden in the sand chanteys, then refined through their own Reverend Mothers with the discovery of the poison drug on Rossak...and now developed to subtle strength on Arrakis in the discovery of the Water of Life.

Far down the inner corridor, another voice screamed: "Never to forgive! Never to forget!”
― Frank Herbert, Dune

“I told him that to endure oneself may be the hardest task in the universe. You cannot hire a wise man or any other intellect to solve it for you. There's no writ of inquest or calling of witness to provide answers. No servant or disciple can dress the wound. You dress it yourself or continue bleeding for all to see.”
― Frank Herbert, Dune Messiah

“I give you the desert chameleon, whose ability to blend itself into the background tells you all you need to know about the roots of ecology and the foundations of a personal identity. The Universe is God's. It is one thing, a wholeness against which all separations may be identified.”
― Frank Herbert, Children of Dune

“Above all else, the mentat must be a generalist, not a specialist. It is wise to have decisions of great moment monitored by generalists. Experts and specialists lead you quickly into chaos. They are a source of useless nit-picking, the ferocious quibble over a comma. The mentat-generalist, on the other hand, should bring to decision-making a healthy common sense. He must not cut himself off from the broad sweep of what is happening in his universe. He must remain capable of saying: “There’s no real mystery about this at the moment. This is what we want now. It may prove wrong later, but we’ll correct that when we come to it.” The mentat-generalist must understand that anything which we can identify as our universe is merely part of larger phenomena. But the expert looks backward; he looks into the narrow standards of his own specialty. The generalist looks outward; he looks for living principles, knowing full well that such principles change, that they develop. It is to the characteristics of change itself that the mentat-generalist must look. There can be no permanent catalogue of such change, no handbook or manual. You must look at it with as few preconceptions as possible, asking yourself: “Now what is this thing doing?”

-The Mentat Handbook”
― Frank Herbert

“L'ironia spesso nasconde l'incapacità di andare oltre le proprie convinzioni.”
― Frank Herbert, Children of Dune

“La prudenza è la via della mediocrità. La mediocrità priva di passioni è tutto ciò che tanta gente crede di poter raggiungere.”
― Frank Herbert, God Emperor of Dune

“Soltanto gli sciocchi preferiscono il passato!”
― Frank Herbert, God Emperor of Dune

“Soltanto i progressisti pensano davvero. Soltanto i progressisti sono intellettuali. Soltanto i progressisti capiscono i bisogni dei loro simili.
Quanta cattiveria si annidava in quella parola!, pensò Odrade. Quanto ego segreto che esigeva di sentirsi superiore.”
― Frank Herbert, Heretics of Dune

“Gli umani vivono meglio quando ognuno ha il suo proprio posto dove stare, quando ognuno sa a quale punto appartiene, nello schema delle cose, e ciò che può riuscire a fare. Distruggetegli tutto questo, e distruggerete la persona.”
― Frank Herbert, Heretics of Dune

“La memoria non ricattura mai la realtà. La memoria ricostruisce. Tutte le ricostruzioni cambiano l'originale, diventando quadri di riferimento esterni che inevitabilmente si discostano dal vero.”
― Frank Herbert, Heretics of Dune

“È del tutto naturale che chiunque detenga il potere desideri sopprimere la ricerca "incontrollata". Il perseguimento senza restrizioni del sapere ha una lunga storia e ha sempre prodotto una concorrenza non voluta. I potenti vogliono una "linea sicura di indagini", in grado di dare origine soltanto a quei prodotti e a quelle idee che possono venir controllati e, cosa più importante, a cose che consentano alla maggior parte dei profitti di venir rastrellati appunto da chi vi ha investito mezzi e uomini "dall'alto". Sfortunatamente, un universo aleatorio e pieno di variabili relative non può assicurare una simile "linea sicura d'indagine”
― Frank Herbert, Heretics of Dune

“La burocrazia distrugge l'iniziativa. Poche sono le cose che i burocrati odiano più delle innovazioni, specialmente quelle innovazioni che producano risultati migliori delle vecchie abitudini. I miglioramenti fanno sempre sembrare inetti quelli che sono in cima al mucchio. A chi piace sentirsi inetto?”
― Frank Herbert, Heretics of Dune

“La sopravvivenza di se stessi, della specie, dell' ambiente, queste sono le cose che muovono gli esseri umani. Potete osservare come l'ordine d'importanza cambi nell'arco d'una vita. Quali sono le cose che suscitano una preoccupazione immediata a una certa età? Il clima? Lo stato della digestione? A lei o a lui importa davvero? Tutti quei vari tipi di fame che la carne sente e spera di soddisfare. Che altro può davvero importare?”
― Frank Herbert, Heretics of Dune

“Gli storici esercitano un grande potere, e alcuni di loro lo sanno. Essi creano il passato, cambiandolo per adeguarlo alle proprie interpretazioni. Così, cambiano anche il futuro.”
― Frank Herbert, Heretics of Dune

“A volte coloro che erano supremamente ricchi diventavano depravati. Ciò derivava dalla loro convinzione che il denaro (il potere) potesse comperare tutto e tutti. E perché non avrebbero dovuto crederlo? Lo vedevano accadere tutti i giorni. Era facile credere negli assoluti.”
― Frank Herbert, Heretics of Dune

“He taught a balanced way of life, a philosophy with which a human can meet problems arising from an ever-changing universe.”
― Frank Herbert, Children of Dune

“A ruler need not be a prophet, Stil. Nor even godlike. A ruler need only be sensitive. I brought you here with me to clarify what our Imperium requires. It requires good government. That does not depend upon laws or precedent, but upon the personal qualities of whoever governs.”
― Frank Herbert, Children of Dune

“All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible”
― Frank Herbert, Chapter House Dune

“Even silent foes of barbarians would cheer when they could or would be dumb when asked by Honoured Matres to supply information about the hunted. Victims and potential victims would not see things Honoured Matres needed to know. Respond with massive ignorance when that is your only weapon. Silence was a sharp sword when forged by brutality.”
― Frank Herbert, Chapterhouse: Dune

“She hated the water then, inspired by the worm's fear. Water, once the spirit-soul of Arrakis, had become a poison. Water brought pestilence. Only the desert was clean.”
― Frank Herbert, Dune Messiah