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
numbers space molecules
Beyond a critical point within a finite space, freedom diminishes as numbers increase. This is as true of humans as it is of gas molecules in a sealed flask. The human question is not how many can possibly survive within the system, but what kind of existence is possible for those who so survive.
being-real done research
Once human beings realize something can be done, they're not satisfied until they've done it.
temptation warning safe
And always, he fought the temptation to choose a clear, safe course, warning 'That path leads ever down into stagnation.
life trust people
The people I distrust most are those who want to improve our lives but have only one course of action.
revelations barriers ultimate
Words themselves were the ultimate barrier to revelation.
faces face-your-fears climbs
Face your fears or they will climb over your back.
reliability action agree
Do actions agree with words? There's your measure of reliability. Never confine yourself to the words.
substitutes
Education is no substitute for intelligence.
technology tools faces
Technology is both a tool for helping humans and for destroying them. This is the paradox of our times which we're compelled to face.
submission
Anything less than abject submission has to have some attack in it.
errors principles persistent
The most persistent principles in the universe are accident and error.
lessons things-change greater-power
The basic lesson of our relativistic universe is that things change. Any power must always meet a greater power.
mistake hero problem
Enormous problems arise when human mistakes are made on the grand scale available to a superhero... Heroes are painful, superheroes are a catastrophe. The mistakes of superheroes involve too many of us in disaster.
mistake taken thinking
The mistakes (of leaders) are amplified by the numbers who follow them without question. Charismatic leaders tend to build up followings, power structures and these power structures tend to be taken over by people who are corruptible. I don't think that the old saw about 'power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely' is accurate: I think power attracts the corruptible.