Dune Quotes

“I see us giving love to each other in a time of quiet between storms. It's what we were meant to do.”
― Frank Herbert, Dune

“I know the evil of my ancestors because I am those people. The balance is delicate in the extreme. I know that few of you who read my words have ever thought about your ancestors this way. It has not occurred to you that your ancestors were survivors and that the survival itself sometimes involved savage decisions, a kind of wanton brutality which civilized humankind works very hard to suppress. What price will you pay for that suppression? Will you accept your own extinction?
-The Stolen Journals”
― Frank Herbert, God Emperor of Dune

“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, Children of Dune

“I succumbed to the lure of the oracle, he thought.
And he sensed that succumbing to this lure might be to fix himself upon a single-track life. Could it be, he wondered, that the oracle didn't tell the future? Could it be that the oracle made the future?”
― Frank Herbert, Dune Messiah

“Je ne connaîtrai pas la peur car la peur tue l'esprit. La peur est la petite mort qui conduit à l'oblitération totale. J'affronterai ma peur. Je lui permettrai de passer sur moi, au travers de moi. Et lorsqu'elle sera passée, je tournerai mon œil intérieur sur son chemin. Et là où elle sera passée, il n'y aura plus rien. Rien que moi.”
― Frank Herbert

“Dune Messiah is the most misunderstood of Frank Herbert's novels. The reasons for this are as fascinating and complex as the renowned author himself.”
― Brian Herbert

“Among my father's most important messages were that governments lie to protect themselves and they make incredibly stupid decisions.”
― Brian Herbert

“Midway through, a fuzzy-chinned young man approaches the desk with a battered copy of Dune and a motley handful of coins. Mo waves him away. “Oh, just take it, Felix. Spend the money on a haircut.”
― Robin Sloan, Ajax Penumbra 1969

“the most precious substance in the universe is the spice Melange…The spice extends life… expands consciousness… gives them the ability to fold space…that is, travel to any part of the universe without moving.”
― Frank Herbert

“...heroic leaders often made mistakes ... mistakes that were amplified by the number of followers who were held in thrall by charisma. (Introduction to Dune Messiah)”
― Brian Herbert

“In Dune and Dune Messiah, he [Frank Herbert] was cautioning against pride and overconfidence, that form of narcissism described in Greek tragedies that invariably led to the great fall.”
― Brian Herbert