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the thirty-seventh president of the United States taught people to question their leaders.
As with all things sacred, it gives with one hand and takes with the other.
Tell me, does Muad’Dib know what you do in these dungeons? Q: We do not trouble the Holy Family with trivia.
Only through the lethal nature of prophecy
“Reason is the first victim of strong emotion,”
They’re trained to believe, not to know. Belief can be manipulated. Only knowledge is dangerous.”
I was chosen.” “Then un-choose,”
To use raw power is to make yourself infinitely vulnerable to greater powers.
More than one government has fallen because people discovered the real extent of official wealth.
“They think of the Jihad the way I thought of it—most of them. It is a source of strange experiences, adventure, wealth.
The power of religion
“I knew many things without the need to think about them,”
“The universe is unfinished, you know,”
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.
prescience has no limits. Not consistent? Consistency isn’t a necessary aspect of the universe.”
“Constitutions become the ultimate tyranny,”
The constitution is social power mobilized and it has no conscience. It can crush the highest and the lowest, removing all dignity and individuality. It has an unstable balance point and no limitations. I, however, have limitations.
Oh man, the first ideal of tyranny.
“Ideas are most to be feared when they become actions,”
Truth suffers from too much analysis.
“People always expect the worst of the rich and powerful,
Language is nothing more than a weapon to you and, thus, you test my armor.”
Religion, too, is a weapon. What manner of weapon is religion when it becomes the government?”
people cling to Imperial leadership because space is infinite. They feel lonely without a unifying symbol. For a lonely people, the Emperor is a definite place. They can turn toward him and say: ‘See, there He is. He makes us one.’ Perhaps religion serves the same purpose, m’Lord.”
“I told him that to endure oneself may be the hardest task in the universe.”
“And that’s why you are dangerous,” she said, measuring out her words. “You’ve mastered your passions.” “That is not why I’m dangerous.”
What can you gather without gathering yourself?”
“Men always fear things which move by themselves,”
You do not beg the sun for mercy.
Growing older is to grow more wicked.
Don’t look too closely at the law. Do, and you’ll find the rationalized interpretations, the legal casuistry, the precedents of convenience. You’ll find the serenity, which is just another word for death.”
“I don’t want to be part of history,” she whispered. “I just want to be loved . . . and to love.”
“we are so money-rich and so life-poor.
Do not compete with what is happening. To compete is to prepare for failure. Do not be trapped by the need to achieve anything. This way, you achieve everything.”
