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God Emperor of Dune
Frank Herbert
Top 10 Best Quotes
“Most civilisation is based on cowardice. It's so easy to civilize by teaching cowardice. You water down the standards which would lead to bravery. You restrain the will. You regulate the appetites. You fence in the horizons. You make a law for every movement. You deny the existence of chaos. You teach even the children to breathe slowly. You tame.”
“The truth always carries the ambiguity of the words used to express it.”
“This wise man observed that wealth is a tool of freedom. But the pursuit of wealth is the way to slavery.”
“When I need to identify rebels, I look for men with principles”
“It is difficult to live in the present, pointless to live in the future and impossible to live in the past.”
“Police are inevitably corrupted. ... Police always observe that criminals prosper. It takes a pretty dull policeman to miss the fact that the position of authority is the most prosperous criminal position available.”
“Most men go through life unchallenged, except at the final moment.”
“Caution is the path to mediocrity. Gliding, passionless mediocrity is all that most people think they can achieve.”
“For what do you hunger, Lord?” Moneo ventured. “For a humankind which can make truly long-term decisions. Do you know the key to that ability, Moneo?” “You have said it many times, Lord. It is the ability to change your mind.”
“The difference between a good administrator and a bad one is about five heartbeats. Good administrators make immediate choices. […] They usually can be made to work. A bad administrator, on the other hand, hesitates, diddles around, asks for committees, for research and reports. Eventually, he acts in ways which create serious problems. […] “A bad administrator is more concerned with reports than with decisions. He wants the hard record which he can display as an excuse for his errors. […] Oh, they depend on verbal orders. They never lie about what they’ve done if their verbal orders cause problems, and they surround themselves with people able to act wisely on the basis of verbal orders. Often, the most important piece of information is that something has gone wrong. Bad administrators hide their mistakes until it’s too late to make corrections.”
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Book Keywords:
civilisation, corruption, administration, criminals, law, passion, mediocrity, rebellion, past, future, wealth, caution, cowardice, present, bravery, decisions, risk, police, truth, philosophy, injustice