Best 507 quotes of Frank Herbert on MyQuotes

A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct.

Absolute power does not corrupt absolutely, absolute power attracts the corruptible.

A creature who has spent his life creating one particular representation of his selfdom will die rather than become the antithesis of that representation

A good companion is one you wouldn't mind dying with.

A killer with the manners of a rabbit - this is the most dangerous kind.

A leader is one of the things that distinguishes a mob from a people. He maintains the level of individuals. Too few individuals and a people reverts to a mob.

All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities.

All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible.

All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible. Such people have a tendency to become drunk on violence, a condition to which they are quickly addicted.

All proofs inevitably lead to propositions which have no proof! All things are known because we want to believe in them.

Always prepare secondary ways of dealing with problems.

A man is a fool not to put everything he has, at any given moment, into what he is creating.

A man's flesh is his own; the water belongs to the tribe.

And always, he fought the temptation to choose a clear, safe course, warning 'That path leads ever down into stagnation.

Answers are a perilous grip on the universe. They can appear sensible yet explain nothing.

Anything outside yourself, this you can see and apply your logic to it. But it's a human trait that when we encounter personal problems, these things most deeply personal are the most difficult to bring out for our logic to scan. We tend to flounder around, blaming everything but the actual, deep-seated thing that's really chewing on us.

A person cries out in life because it's lonely and because life's been broken off from whatever created it. But no matter how much you hate life, you love it too. It's like a caldron boiling with everything you have to have, but very painful to the lips.

A person needs new experiences. They jar something deep inside, allowing you to grow. Without them, it sleeps- seldom to awaken. The sleeper must awaken.

A process cannot be understood by stopping it. Understanding must move with the flow of the process, must join it and flow with it.

A requirement of creativity is that it contributes to change. Creativity keeps the creator alive.

Argument closes off the doors of the senses. It always masks violence. Continued too long, argument always leads to violence.

Arrakis teaches the attitude of the knife - chopping off what's incomplete and saying: "Now it's complete because it's ended here.

A ruler must learn to persuade and not to compel... he must lay the best coffee hearth to attract the finest men... a good ruler has to learn his world's language... it's different for every world... the language of the rocks and growing things... the language you don't hear just with your ears... the Mystery of Life... not a problem to solve, but a reality to experience... Understanding must move with the flow of the process.

Ask what Infinity might produce and the only answer possible was, "Anything." Any good, any evil; any god, any devil.

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

A storm is coming; our storm. Emperor - we come for you!

Atrocity is recognized as such by victim and predator alike, by all who learn about it at whatever remove. Atrocity has no excuses, no mitigating argument. Atrocity never balances or rectifies the past. Atrocity merely arms the future for more atrocity. It is self-perpetuating upon itself - a barbarous form of incest. Whoever commits atrocity also commits those future atrocities thus bred.

Atrocity never balances or rectifies the past. Atrocity merely arms the future for more atrocity.

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.

A world is supported by four things: the learning of wise, the justice of great, the prayers of the righteous and the valor of the brave. But all of these are as nothing without a ruler who knows the art of ruling.

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.

Beware! The mind of the believer stagnates. It fails to grow outward into an unlimited, infinite universe.

Beyond a critical point within a finite space, freedom diminishes as numbers increase. This is as true of humans as it is of gas molecules in a sealed flask. The human question is not how many can possibly survive within the system, but what kind of existence is possible for those who so survive.

Bless the Maker and His water. Bless the coming and going of Him. May His passage cleanse the world. May He keep the world for His people.

Blood is thicker than water, but politics are thicker than blood.

Bureaucracy destroys initiative. There is little that bureaucrats hate more than innovation, especially innovation that produces better results than the old routines. Improvements always make those at the top of the heap look inept. Who enjoys appearing inept?

But it's well known that repression makes a religion flourish.

But, later, coming back and reading what I have produced, I am unable to detect the difference between what came easily and when I had to sit down and say, "Well, now it's writing time and now I'll write.

Can you collect chaos? Not collecting, that is the ultimate gathering. What can you gather without gathering yourself.

Caution is the path to mediocrity.

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

Chance is the nature of our universe. [...] madness represents a chaotic reservoir of surprises. Some surprises can be valuable.

Clinging to any form of conservatism can be dangerous. Become too conservative and you are unprepared for surprises. You cannot depend on luck. Logic is blind and often knows only its own past. Logic is good for playing chess but is often too slow for the needs of survival.

Confine yourself to observing and you always miss the point of your life. The object can be stated this way: Live the best life you can. Life is a game whose rules you learn if you leap into it and play it to the hilt. Otherwise, you are caught off balance, continually surprised by the shifting play. Non-players often whine and complain that luck always passes them by. They refuse to see that they can create some of their own luck. Darwi Odrade - Chapterhouse: Dune

Confine yourself to observing and you always miss the point of your own life.

Constitutions become the ultimate tyranny," Paul said. "They’re organized power on such a scale as to be overwhelming. The constitution is social power mobilized and it has no conscience. It can crush the highest and the lowest, removing all dignity and individuality. It has an unstable balance point and no limitations.

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

Death makes a prophet's voice louder.

Demagogues are so easy to identify. They gesture a lot and speak with pulpit rhythms, using words that ring of religious fervour and god-fearing sincerity. Sincerity with nothing behind it takes so much practice. The practice can always be detected. Repetition. Great attempts to keep your attention on words.

Democracy is susceptible to being led astray by having scapegoats paraded in front of the electorate.