Dune

“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.” (Location 156)

the mystery of life isn’t a problem to solve, but a reality to experience. (Location 657)

“We are indebted to you, Dr. Kynes,” Leto said. “These suits and the consideration for our welfare will be remembered.” On impulse, Paul called to mind a quotation from the O.C. Bible, said: “ ‘The gift is the blessing of the giver.’ (Location 2312)

Greatness is a transitory experience. It is never consistent. It depends in part upon the myth-making imagination of humankind. The person who experiences greatness must have a feeling for the myth he is in. He must reflect what is projected upon him. And he must have a strong sense of the sardonic. This is what uncouples him from belief in his own pretensions. The sardonic is all that permits him to move within himself. Without this quality, even occasional greatness will destroy a man. (Location 2713)

“Growth is limited by that necessity which is present in the least amount. And, naturally, the least favorable condition controls the growth rate.” (Location 2982)

Do you wrestle with dreams? Do you contend with shadows? Do you move in a kind of sleep? Time has slipped away. Your life is stolen. You tarried with trifles, Victim of your folly. (Location 3406)

He remained silent, thinking like the seed he was, thinking with the race consciousness he had first experienced as terrible purpose. He found that he no longer could hate the Bene Gesserit or the Emperor or even the Harkonnens. They were all caught up in the need of their race to renew its scattered inheritance, to cross and mingle and infuse their bloodlines in a great new-pooling of genes. And the race knew only one sure way for this—the ancient way, the tried and certain way that rolled over everything in its path: jihad. (Location 4319)

My father once told me that respect for the truth comes close to being the basis for all morality. “Something cannot emerge from nothing,” he said. This is profound thinking if you understand how unstable “the truth” can be. (Location 4427)

“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 me I will turn to see fear’s path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.” (Location 4936)

We came from Caladan—a paradise world for our form of life. There existed no need on Caladan to build a physical paradise or a paradise of the mind—we could see the actuality all around us. And the price we paid was the price men have always paid for achieving a paradise in this life—we went soft, we lost our edge. (Location 5488)

The Fremen were supreme in that quality the ancients called “span-nungsbogen”—which is the self-imposed delay between desire for a thing and the act of reaching out to grasp that thing. (Location 6205)

A leader, you see, is one of the things that distinguishes a mob from a people. He maintains the level of individuals. (Location 6304)

The concept of progress acts as a protective mechanism to shield us from the terrors of the future. (Location 6932)

Whirling silence settled around Jessica. Every fiber of her body accepted the fact that something profound had happened to it. She felt that she was a conscious mote, smaller than any subatomic particle, yet capable of motion and of sensing her surroundings. Like an abrupt revelation—the curtains whipped away—s he realized she had become aware of a psychokinesthetic extension of herself. She was the mote, yet not the mote. (Location 7647)

Terror threatened to overwhelm her. She fought it the only way she knew: “I shall not fear. Fear is the mind killer. …” The litany brought a semblance of calm. The other mote lay quiescent against her. Words won’t work, Jessica told herself. She reduced herself to basic emotional reactions, radiated love, comfort, a warm snuggling of protection. The terror receded. (Location 7691)

Deep in the human unconscious is a pervasive need for a logical universe that makes sense. But the real universe is always one step beyond logic. (Location 8012)

There is in all things a pattern that is part of our universe. It has symmetry, elegance, and grace—those qualities you find always in that which the true artist captures. You can find it in the turning of the seasons, in the way sand trails along a ridge, in the branch clusters of the creosote bush or the pattern of its leaves. We try to copy these patterns in our lives and our society, seeking the rhythms, the dances, the forms that comfort. Yet, it is possible to see peril in the finding of ultimate perfection. It is clear that the ultimate pattern contains its own fixity. In such perfection, all things move toward death. (Location 8165)

We know the need for cautious waiting, Jessica thought, but there’s the core of our frustration. We know also the harm that waiting extended too long can do to us. We lose our sense of purpose if the waiting’s prolonged. (Location 8604)

How often it is that the angry man rages denial of what his inner self is telling him. (Location 9145)

We’re shaped by such forces. You can say to yourself, ‘Yes, I see how such a thing may be.’ But when you look inward and confront the raw force of your own life unshielded, you see your peril. You see that this could overwhelm you. (Location 9599)

“You must understand that she does this out of kindness,” he said. “Isn’t it odd how we misunderstand the hidden unity of kindness and cruelty?” (Location 10135)