Frank Herbert Quotes

What is the son but an extension of the father?

There is in all things a pattern that is part of our universe. It has symmetry, elegance, and grace — those qualities you find always in that which the true artist captures. You can find it in the turning of the seasons, in the way sand trails along a ridge, in the branch clusters of the creosote bush or the pattern of its leaves. We try to copy these patterns in our lives and our society, seeking the rhythms, the dances, the forms that comfort. Yet, it is possible to see peril in the finding of ultimate perfection. It is clear that the ultimate pattern contains its own fixity. In such perfection, all things move toward death.

How sure it is, Leto thought, that a weapon can lock a person into a predictable pattern of behavior.

QUESTION: Who governs the governors?
ANSWER: Entropy.

Science is made up of so many things that appear obvious after they are explained.

My mind controls my reality.

You must teach me the way you thrust your worries aside and turn to practical matters.

There exists a limit to the force even the most powerful may apply without destroying themselves. Judging this limit is the true artistry of government. Misuse of power is the fatal sin.

My mother is my enemy. She does not know it, but she is. She is bringing the jihad. She bore me; she trained me. She is my enemy.

Among my father’s most important messages were that governments lie to protect themselves and they make incredibly stupid decisions. Years after the publication of Dune, Richard M. Nixon provided ample proof. Dad said that Nixon did the American people an immense favor in his attempt to cover up the Watergate misdeeds. By amplified example, albeit unwittingly, the thirty-seventh president of the United States taught people to question their leaders. In interviews and impassioned speeches on university campuses all across the country, Frank Herbert warned young people not to trust government, telling them that the American founding fathers had understood this and had attempted to establish safeguards in the Constitution.

One moment of incompetence can be fatal.

Since every individual is accountable ultimately to the self, the formation of that self demands our utmost care and attention.

Humans are almost always lonely.

The universe does not work by our rules

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.