Chapterhouse: Dune (Dune, #6)

by Frank Herbert

“Histories focus on confrontations. Some truth in that but it hides more persistent things that go on in spite of upheavals.” “Persistent things?” “What history touches the woman in the rice paddy driving her water buffalo ahead of her plow while her husband is off somewhere, most likely a conscript, carrying a weapon?” “Why is that persistent and more important than ...” “Her babies at home need food. Man’s away on this perennial madness? Someone has to do the plowing. She’s a true image of human persistence.” “You sound so bitter ... I find that odd.” “Considering my military history?” “That, yes, the Bene Gesserit emphasis on ... on their Bashar and elite troops and ...” “You think they’re just more self-important people going on about their self-important violence? They’ll ride right over the woman with her plow?” “Why not?” “Because very little escapes them. The violent ones ride past the plowing woman and seldom see they have touched basic reality. A Bene Gesserit would never miss such a thing.”