There are those among my young men who have reached the age of wild spirits,’ he said. ‘They must be eased through this period. I must leave no great reasons around for them to challenge me. Because I would have to maim and kill among them. This is not the proper course for a leader if it can be avoided with honor. A leader, you see, is one of the things that distinguishes a mob from a people. He maintains the level of individuals. Too few individuals, and a people reverts to a mob.

— Frank Herbert

Frank Herbert Quotes

It became apparent to the Fremen that Kynes was not a madman totally, just mad enough to be holy.

— Frank Herbert

When your actions describe a system of evil consequences, you should be judged by those consequences and not by your explanations.

— Frank Herbert

That girl! She was like a touch of destiny.

— Frank Herbert

Given the right lever you can move a planet.

— Frank Herbert

And his father was right: trying for some ultimate control of the universe, you only built weapons with which the universe eventually defeated you.

— Frank Herbert

When you live upon Arrakis,” she had said, “khala, the land is empty. The moons will be your friends, the sun your enemy.

— Frank Herbert

There will be sadness,” Alia intoned. “I remind you that all things are but beginning, forever beginning. Worlds wait to be conquered. Some within the sound of my voice will attain exalted destinies. You will sneer at the past, forgetting what I tell you now: within all differences there is unity.

— Frank Herbert

Concealed behind strong barriers the heart becomes ice.

— Frank Herbert

Show no mercy. Never stop. Mercy is a chimera. It can be defeated by the stomach rumbling its hunger, by the throat crying its thirst.

— Frank Herbert

Think of all those experiences, the wisdom they’d bring. But wisdom tempers love, doesn’t it? And it puts a new shape on hate.

— Frank Herbert

The man without emotions is the one to fear.

— Frank Herbert

Freedom is a lonely state.

— Frank Herbert

Have you noticed, Stil, how beautiful the young women are this year?

— Frank Herbert

Peace punishes mistakes without rewarding brilliance.

— Frank Herbert

He felt that his mentat faculties had been dulled, let out a long, shuddering breath. A psychic shadow passed over him. In the emotional darkness of it, he felt himself waiting for some absolute sound – the snap of a branch in a jungle.

— Frank Herbert

Just as individuals are born, mature, breed, and die, so do societies and civilizations and governments.

— Frank Herbert

Guilt and blame grew defuse when memory covered a millennia.

— Frank Herbert

Atrocity has no excuses, no mitigating argument. Atrocity never balances or rectifies the past. Atrocity merely arms the future for more atrocity. It is self-perpetuating upon itself – a barbarous form of incest. Whoever commits atrocity also commits those future atrocities thus bred.

— Frank Herbert

You cannot go on forever stealing what you need without regard to those who come after. The physical qualities of a planet are written into its economic and political record. We have the record in front of us and our course is obvious.

— Frank Herbert

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.

— Frank Herbert
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