Home > Work > The Dosadi Experiment (ConSentiency Universe, #2)
21 " We of the Sabotage Bureau remain legalists of a special category. We know that too much law injures a society; it is the same with too little law. One seeks a balance. We are like the balancing force among the Gowachin: without hope of achieving heaven in the society of mortals, we seek the unattainable. Each agent knows his own conscience and why he serves such a master. That is the key to us. We serve a mortal conscience for immortal reasons. We do it without hope of praise or the sureness of success. — The early writings of Bildoon, PanSpechi Chief of BuSab "
― Frank Herbert , The Dosadi Experiment (ConSentiency Universe, #2)
22 " The more control, the more that requires control. This is the road to chaos. — PanSpechi aphorism "
23 " Law must retain useful ways to break with traditional forms because nothing is more certain than that the forms of Law remain when all justice is gone.— Gowachin aphorism "
24 " Arm yourself when the Frog God smiles.— Gowachin admonition "
25 " When the means of great violence are widespread, nothing is more dangerous to the powerful than that they create outrage and injustice, for outrage and injustice will certainly ignite retaliation in kind. — BuSab Manual "
26 " For the Gowachin, to stand alone against all adversity is the most sacred moment of existence. — The Gowachin, a BuSab analysis "
27 " All sentient beings are created unequal. The best society provides each with equal opportunity to float at his own level.— The Gowachin Primary "
28 " Where pain predominates, agony can be a valued teacher. — Dosadi aphorism "
29 " Choose containable violence when violence cannot be avoided. Better this than epidemic violence. — Lessons of Choice, The BuSab Manual "
30 " The military mentality is a bandit and raider mentality. Thus, all military represents a form of organized banditry where the conventional mores do not prevail. The military is a way of rationalizing murder, rape, looting, and other forms of theft which are always accepted as part of warfare. When denied an outside target, the military mentality always turns against its own civilian population, using identical rationalizations for bandit behavior. — BuSab Manual, Chapter Five: "The Warlord Syndrome "
31 " QUESTION: Who governs the governors?ANSWER: Entropy. "
32 " People always devise their own justifications. Fixed and immovable Law merely provides a convenient structure within which to hang your justifications and the prejudices behind them. The only universally acceptable law for mortals would be one which fitted every justification. What obvious nonsense. Law must expose prejudice and question justification. Thus, Law must be flexible, must change to fit new demands. Otherwise, it becomes merely the justification of the powerful. — Gowachin Law (The BuSab Translation) "
33 " There is a fundamental tension between science and freedom - no matter how science is viewed by its practitioners nor how freedom is sensed by those who believe they have it. "
34 " All persons act from beliefs they are conditioned not to question, from a set of deeply seated prejudices. Therefore, whoever presumes to judge must be asked: "How are you affronted?" And this judge must begin there to question inwardly as well as outwardly.— "The Question" from Ritual of the Courtarena Guide to Servants of the Box "
35 " he really cared for Fannie Mae! He admired her . . . and she could hurt him because he admired her and felt . . . felt this way. "
36 " the afternoon shadows gloomed the depths of the city, "
37 " The attack by those who want to die — this is the attack against which you cannot prepare a perfect defense. — Human aphorism "
38 " There are some forms of insanity which, driven to an ultimate expression, can become the new models of sanity. — BuSab Manual "
39 " We have created a monster — enormously valuable and even useful yet extremely dangerous. Our monster is both beautiful and terrifying. We do not dare use this monster to its full potential, but we cannot release our grasp upon it.— Gowachin assessment of the Dosadi experiment "
40 " How to start a war? Nurture your own latent hungers for power. Forget that only madmen pursue power for its own sake. Let such madmen gain power — even you. Let such madmen act behind their conventional masks of sanity. Whether their masks be fashioned from the delusions of defense or the theological aura of law, war will come.— Gowachin aphorism "