Home > Work > House Harkonnen (Prelude to Dune #2)
1 " The universe is our picture. Only the immature imagine the cosmos to be what they think it is. "
― Brian Herbert , House Harkonnen (Prelude to Dune #2)
2 " Discovery is dangerous . . . but so is life. A man unwilling to take risk is doomed never to learn, never to grow, never to live. "
3 " We create our own future by our own beliefs, which control our actions. A strong enough belief system, a sufficiently powerful conviction, can make anything happen. This is how we create our consensus reality, including our gods. "
4 " If you surrender, you have already lost. If you refuse to give up, though, no matter the odds against you, at least you have succeeded in trying. "
5 " No one has yet determined the power of the human species . . . what it may perform by instinct, and what it may accomplish with rational determination. "
6 " The Universe operates on a basic principle of economics: everything has its cost. We pay to create our future, we pay for the mistakes of the past. We pay for every change we make . . . and we pay just as dearly if we refuse to change. "
7 " How will I be remembered by my children? This is the true measure of a man. "
8 " Look inside yourself and you can see the universe. "
9 " Religion is the emulation of the adult by the child. Religion is the encystment of past beliefs: mythology, which is guesswork, the hidden assumptions of trust in the universe, those pronouncements which men have made in search of personal power . . . all mingled with shreds of enlightenment. And always the ultimate unspoken commandment is "Thou shalt not question!" But we do anyway. We break that commandment as a matter of course. The work to which we have set ourselves is the liberating of the imagination, the harnessing of imagination to humankind's deepest sense of creativity. "
10 " Let the future remain uncertain, for that is the canvas to receive our desires. "
11 " There is no reality -- only our own order imposed on everything. "
12 " Freedom is an elusive concept. Some men hold themselves prisoner even when they have the power to do as they please and go where they choose, while others are free in their hearts, even as shackles restrain them. "
13 " You carve wounds upon my flesh and write there in salt! "
14 " Though death will cancel it, life in this world is a glorious thing. "
15 " The Unknown surrounds us at any given moment. That is where we seek knowledge. "
16 " We are indeed miserable, my friends, but we don’t have to be dismal about it. "
17 " Quite a body count around here today, Fenring mused. And I didn't kill any of them. "
18 " Looking closely at de Vries, he added, 'You are a very ugly man, Piter. Even with my disease, I'm still prettier than you. "
19 " Discovery is dangerous . . . but so is life. A man unwilling to take risks is doomed never to learn, never to grow, never to live. —Planetologist Pardot Kynes, An Arrakis Primer, written for his son Liet "
20 " Never underestimate the power of the human mind to believe what it wants to believe, no matter the conflicting evidence. —Caedmon Erb, Politics and Reality "