Water is the image of life. We came from water, adapted from its all-encompassing presence… and we continue to adapt.

-Imperial Planetologist Pardot Kynes

#dunequotes

What had the Lady Jessica to sustain her in her time of trial? Think you carefully on this Bene Gesserit proverb and perhaps you will see: "Any road followed precisely to its end leads precisely nowhere. Climb the mountain just a little bit to test that it's a mountain. From the top of the mountain, you cannot see the mountain."

- from "Muad'Dib: Family Commentaries" by the Princess Irulan

#dunequotes

A major concept guides the Missionaria Protectiva: Purposeful instruction of the masses. This is firmly seated in our belief that the aim of argument should be to change the nature of truth. In such matters, we prefer the use of power rather than force.
—The Coda
#dunequotes

Nature commits no errors; right and wrong are human categories.
-Pardot Kynes, Arrakis Lectures

#dunequotes

The increasing variety and abundance of life itself vastly multiplies the number of niches available for life. The resulting system is a web of makers and users, eaters and eaten, collaborators and competitors.

-Pardot Kynes, Report to Emperor Shaddam IV

#dunequotes

Muad'Dib's teachings have become the playground of scholastics, of the superstitious and the corrupt. He taught a balanced way of life, a philosophy with which a human can meet problems arising from an ever-changing universe. He said humankind is still evolving, in a process which will never end. He said this evolution moves on changing principles which are known only to eternity. How can corrupted reasoning play with such an essence?
- Words of the Mentat Duncan Idaho

#dunequotes

They say Mother Superior can disregard nothing — a meaningless aphorism until you grasp its other significance: I am the servant of all my Sisters. They watch their servant with critical eyes. I cannot spend too much time on generalities nor on trivia. Mother Superior must display insightful action else a sense of disquiet penetrates to the farthest corners of our order.
— Darwi Odrade

#dunequotes

“We must negate the machines-that-think. Humans must set their own guidelines. This is not something machines can do. Reasoning depends upon programming, not on hardware, and we are the ultimate program! Our Jihad is a "dump program." We dump the things which destroy us as humans!” 
― Minister-companion of the Jihad

#dune #dunequotes #ai #artificialintelligence #computers #jihad #humans #humanity #scifi #scifiart

““Grave this on your memory, lad: A world is supported by four things. …” She held up four big-knuckled fingers. “… the learning of the wise, the justice of the great, the prayers of the righteous and the valor of the brave. But all of these are as nothing. …” She closed her fingers into a fist. “… without a ruler who knows the art of ruling. Make that the science of your tradition!” - the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam #dune #dunequotes
Halfway through Chapterhouse and I’ll I can think of is the quote “power attracts the corruptible”. A lot of what Herbert presents in this book feels quite applicable to today’s system, it feels unsettling. #Dunequotes #Dune