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Frank Herbert Quotes

Frank Herbert

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If you need something to worship, then worship life - all life, every last crawling bit of it! We're all in this beauty together!
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Life
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To stay awake all night adds a day to your life.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Night
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Peace for any prolonged period of time is impossible. Humans have a natural thirst for chaos and war is the most readily available form of chaos.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Peace
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The mind goes on working no matter how we try to hold it back.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Mind
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the sleeper must awaken.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Sleepers
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What is important for a leader is that which makes him a leader. It is the needs of his people.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: People
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We faced it and did not resist. The storm passed through us and around us. It's gone, but we remain.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Storm
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The hearts of all men dwell in the same wilderness.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Life
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Balance is what distinguishs a people from a mob.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: People
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Anything less than abject submission has to have some attack in it.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Submission
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Paired opposites define your longings and those longings imprison you.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Opposites
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Fear is the penalty of consciousness forced to stare at itself.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Consciousness
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Emotions are the curse of logic.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Emotion
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Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Mind
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Most of us choose our companions and surroundings to reflect ourselves.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Surroundings
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The purpose of argument is to change the nature of truth.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Purpose
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This wise man observed that wealth is a tool of freedom. But the pursuit of wealth is the way to slavery.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Wise
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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.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Lying
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We accept too damned many things on the explanations of people who could have good reasons for lying.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Lying
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Each life creates endless ripples.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Life
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You can't build politics on love. People aren't concerned with love; it's too disordered. They prefer despotism. Too much freedom breeds chaos.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: People
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A popular man arouses the jealousy of the powerful.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Powerful
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To stand alone against all adversity is the most sacred moment of existence.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Adversity
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Educational bureaucracies dull a child's questing sensitivity. The young must be dampened down. Never let them know how good they can be. That brings change. Spend lots of committee time talking about how to deal with exceptional students. Don't spend any time dealing with how the conventional teacher feels threatened by emerging talents and squelches them because of a deep-seated desire to feel superior and safe in a safe environment.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Teacher
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When politics and religion are intermingled, a people is suffused with a sense of invulnerability, and gathering speed in their forward charge, they fail to see the cliff ahead of them
- Frank Herbert
Collection: People
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Absolute power does not corrupt absolutely, absolute power attracts the corruptible.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Power
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If wishes were fishes, we'd all cast nets.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Wish
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What you cannot control, you must accept.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Accepting
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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.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Sleep
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The best prophets lead you up to the curtain and let you peer through for yourself.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Peers
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These are illusions of popular history which successful religion must promote: Evil men never prosper; only the brave deserve the fair; honesty is the best policy; actions speak louder than words; virtue always triumpths; a good deed is its own rewards; any bad human can be reformed; religious talismans protect one from demon possession; only females understand the ancient mysteries; the rich are doomed to unhappiness
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Religious
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Nature does not make mistakes. Right and wrong are human categories.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Inspirational
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Law always chooses sides on the basis of enforcement power. Morality and legal niceties have little to do with it when the real question is: Who has the clout?
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Real
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If you focus your awareness only upon your own rightness, then you invite the forces of opposition to overwhelm you.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Focus
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I now believe that evolution, or deevolution, never ends short of death, that no society has ever achieved an absolute pinnacle, that all humans are not created equal. In fact, I believe attempts to create some abstract equalization create a morass of injustices that rebound on the equalizers. Equal justice and equal opportunity are ideals we should seek, but we should recognize that humans administer the ideals and that humans do not have equal ability.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Believe
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The ultimate test ... to see the good in evil and the evil in good.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Evil
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The oppressed always learned from and copied the oppressor. When the tables were turned, the stage was set for another round of revenge and violence -- roles reversed. And reversed and reversed ad nauseam.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Revenge
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Remember: Bureaucracy elevates conformity ... Make that elevates 'fatal stupidity' to the status of religion.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Stupidity
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Logic is good for playing chess but is often too slow for the needs of survival.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Survival
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Most lives are a flight from selfhood. Most prefer the truths of the stable. You stick your head into the stanchions and munch contentedly until you die. Others use you for their purposes. Not once do you look outside the stable to lift your head and be your own creature.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Self
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When I need to identify rebels, I look for men with principles
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Men
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The function of science fiction is not always to predict the future but sometimes to prevent it.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Science
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Do actions agree with words? There's your measure of reliability. Never confine yourself to the words.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Reliability
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Every civilization depends upon the quality of the individuals it produces.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Civilization
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If you live in bad faith, lies will appear to you like the truth.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Lying
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When a wise man does not understand, he says: "I do not understand." The fool and the uncultured are ashamed of their ignorance. They remain silent when a question could bring them wisdom.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Wise
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Politics: the art of appearing candid and completely open while concealing as much as possible.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Art
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The people I distrust most are those who want to improve our lives but have only one course of action in mind.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Life
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Silence is often the best thing to say.
- Frank Herbert
Collection: Silence

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