970 Quotes by Frank Herbert

The past may show the right way to behave if you live in the past, Stil, but circumstances change.

One of the key characteristics of an elite corps is its susceptibility to those more powerful than itself. Elite power is naturally attracted to a power hierarchy and fits itself neatly, obediently into the one that promises the most personal benefits. Here is the Achilles’ heel of armies, police and bureaucracies.

Another might have missed the tension, but she had trained him in the Bene Gesserit Way - in the minutiae of observation.

The willow submits to the wind and prospers until one day it is many willows - a wall against the wind.

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.

Monarchies have some good features beyond their star qualities. They can reduce the size and parasitic nature of the management bureaucracy. They can make speedy decisions when necessary. They fit an ancient human demand for a parental (tribal/feudal) hierarchy where every person knows his place. It is valuable to know your place, even if that place is temporary. It is galling to be held in place against your will. This is why I teach about tyranny in the best possible way—by example.

Fortune passes everywhere.

No more terrible disaster could befall your people than for them to fall into the hands of a Hero.

In politics, the tripod is he most unstable of all structures. It's be bad enough without the complication of a feudal trade culture which turns its back on most science.