UNDER PRESSURE Quotes

“Each of us is the enemy [...] to the other and to himself. That's what I mean: I'm the enemy within myself. Unless I master that enemy, I always lose.”
― Frank Herbert, UNDER PRESSURE

“as had happened so many times in the past, for every problem solved a new one was added. Beneath”
― Frank Herbert, The Dragon in the Sea

“Only that I've never met a psychoanalyst who didn't – at least subconsciously – offer his system as a substitute for religion. Present company included. We set ourselves up as little gods – all-knowing, all-healing. People resent that and rightly. We have polite labels for our failures. We agree among ourselves that anything bearing one of those labels is, of course, incurable.’ Dr”
― Frank Herbert, The Dragon in the Sea

“The boat spelled enveloping safety, a return to the womb. But when the men came ashore, that was birth: exposure. The sky's a hideous thing to men who want to hide from it.’ Dr”
― Frank Herbert, The Dragon in the Sea

“What is this solution?’ asked Sparrow. ‘The breakdowns are a rejection of birth by men who have unconsciously retreated into the world of prebirth. What child would seek birth if he knew that pain and fear – a constant menace – awaited him on the other”
― Frank Herbert, The Dragon in the Sea

“We're afloat in amniotic fluid.’ ‘How's that?’ ‘Salt water. It's chemically almost identical with the fluid surrounding an unborn baby.”
― Frank Herbert, The Dragon in the Sea

“Insanity is something like drowning,’ said Sparrow. ‘You go under; you flounder without direction;”
― Frank Herbert, The Dragon in the Sea

“What's your definition of sanity, Skipper?’ ‘The ability to swim,’ said Sparrow. Ramsey felt a cold shock, as though he had been immersed suddenly in freezing water. He had to force himself to continue breathing normally. As though from a great distance, he heard Sparrow's voice: ‘That means the sane person has to understand currents, has to know what's required in different waters.’ Ramsey”
― Frank Herbert, The Dragon in the Sea