Frank Herbert Quotes

What do such machines really do? They increase the number of things we can do without thinking. Things we do without thinking-there’s the real danger.

One learns from books and example only that certain things can be done. Actual learning requires that you do those things.

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.

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

We faced it and did not resist. The storm passed through us and around us. It's gone, but we remain.

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?

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

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

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

What does a mirror look at?

Police are inevitably corrupted. ... Police always observe that criminals prosper. It takes a pretty dull policeman to miss the fact that the position of authority is the most prosperous criminal position available.

Religion must remain an outlet for people who say to themselves, 'I am not the kind of person I want to be.' It must never sink into an assemblage of the self-satisfied.

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

Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind.

Never attempt to reason with people who know they are right!