Dune (Dune #1)

by Frank Herbert

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”

Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a man’s mind,

“Humans live best when each has his own place, when each knows where he belongs in the scheme of things. Destroy the place and destroy the person.

“I never could bring myself to trust a traitor,” the Baron said. “Not even a traitor I created.”

“The absence of a thing,” the Baron said, “this can be as deadly as the presence. The absence of air, eh? The absence of water? The absence of anything else we’re addicted to.”

there are that ease the heart—water, green grass, and the beauty of woman.”

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.”

“When your opponent fears you, then’s the moment when you give the fear its own rein, give it the time to work on him. Let it become terror. The terrified man fights himself. Eventually, he attacks in desperation. That is the most dangerous moment, but the terrified man can be trusted usually to make a fatal mistake. You are being trained here to detect these mistakes and use them.”

‘Do not count a human dead until you’ve seen his body. And even then you can make a mistake.’”