Frank Herbert
Frank Herbert
Frank Patrick Herbert, Jr.was an American science fiction writer best known for the novel Dune and its five sequels. Though he became famous for science fiction, he was also a newspaper journalist, photographer, short story writer, book reviewer, ecological consultant and lecturer...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth8 October 1920
CityTacoma, WA
CountryUnited States of America
lonely simple civilization
No matter how exotic human civilization becomes, no matter the developments of life and society nor the complexity of the machine/human interface, there always come interludes of lonely power when the course of humankind, the very future of humankind, depends upon the relatively simple actions of single individual.
government long tendencies
Governments can be useful to the governed only so long as inherent tendencies toward tyranny are restrained.
ignorance dangerous
It must certainly be more dangerous to live in ignorance than to live with knowledge.
ideas want way
The person who takes the banal and ordinary and illuminates it in a new way can terrify. We do not want our ideas changed.
suffering purpose empires
Empires do not suffer emptiness of purpose at the time of their creation. It is when they have become established that aims are lost and replaced by vague ritual.
wealth true-wealth universe
There is only one true wealth in all the universe--living time.
hate thought-provoking innovation
Bureaucracy destroys initiative. There is little that bureaucrats hate more than innovation, especially innovation that produces better results than the old routines. Improvements always make those at the top of the heap look inept. Who enjoys appearing inept?
answers sensible universe
Answers are a perilous grip on the universe. They can appear sensible yet explain nothing.
father thinking profound
My father once told me that respect for truth comes close to being the basis for all morality. 'Something cannot emerge from nothing,' he said. This is profound thinking if you understand how unstable 'the truth' can be.
persistence simple thinking
I don’t think it’s quite that simple. Some people never observe anything, Life just happens to them. They get by on little more than a kind of dumb persistence, and they resist with anger and resentment anything that might lift them out of that false serenity.
revelations barriers ultimate
Words themselves were the ultimate barrier to revelation.
opposites creatures one-thing
When a creature has developed into one thing, he will choose death rather than change into his opposite.
wise ignorance men
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.
law giving mind
Give me the judgment of balanced minds in preference to laws every time. Codes and manuals create patterned behavior. All patterned behavior tends to go unquestioned, gathering destructive momentum.