Hittite law emphasized restitution rather than revenge. Humankind lost a certain useful practicality when it chose the other Semitic response—never to forgive and never to forget.
His thoughts were too vague to be described, but they comprehended mysterious elements.
He suspected that any life form that inflicted unnecessary pain tended to find its consciousness eroding. Without consciousness to reflect back upon life, all life might lose its sense of purpose.
He found that he no longer could hate the Bene Gesserit or the Emperor or even the Harkonnens. They were all caught up in the need of their race to renew its scattered inheritance, to cross and mingle...
He could close his eyes and recall the shouts of the crowds. So that is what they hope, he thought. And he remembered what the old Reverend Mother had said: Kwisatz Haderach. The memories touched his...
Governments may rise and fall for reasons which appear insignificant, Prince. What small events! An argument between two women . . . which way the wind blows on a certain day . . . a sneeze, a cough,...
Good government never depends upon laws, but upon the personal qualities of those who govern. The machinery of government is always subordinate to the will of those who administer that machinery. The...
Give as few orders as possible, his father had told him once long ago. Once you've given orders on a subject, you must always give orders on that subject.
Fear is the penalty of consciousness forced to stare at itself.
Every religious, business and governmental question has the single derivative: 'Who will exercise the power?' Alliances, combines, complexes, they all chase mirages unless they go for the power. All e...
Every civilization must contend with an unconscious force which can block, betray or countermand almost any conscious intention of the collectivity. —
Educational bureaucracies dull a child’s questing sensitivity. Odrade explaining. The young must be damped down. Never let them know how good they can be. That brings change. Spend lots of committee t...
Each man is a little war.
Do not count a human dead until you’ve seen his body. And even then you can make a mistake.
Do as she says, you wormfaced, crawling, sand-brained piece of lizard turd!
Confine yourself to observing and you always miss the point of your life. The object can be stated this way: Live the best life you can. Life is a game whose rules you learn if you leap into it and pl...
Can you remember your first taste of spice? It tasted like cinnamon. But never twice the same, he said. It’s like life—it presents a different face each time you take it. Some hold that the spice prod...
And the price we paid was the price men have always paid for achieving a paradise in this life -we went soft, we lost our edge.
A voice hissed: He sheds tears!It was taken around the ring Usal gives moisture to the dead!He felt fingers touch his damp cheek, heard the awed whispers.
A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct. This every sister of the Bene Gesserit knows. To begin your study of the life of Maud'Dib, then, take care that...