Quotes about Power
There exists a limit to the force even the most powerful may apply without destroying themselves. Judging this limit is the true artistry of government. Misuse of power is the fatal sin. The law cannot be a tool of vengeance, never a hostage, nor a fortification against the martyrs it has created. You cannot threaten any individual and escape the consequences
- Frank Herbert
It requires good government. That does not depend upon laws or precedent, but upon the personal qualities of whoever governs.
- Frank Herbert
They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity of the sand.
- Frank Herbert
Most of the Houses have grown fat by taking few risks. One cannot truly blame them for this; one can only despise them.
- Frank Herbert
The man without emotions is the one to fear. But deep emotions…ah, now, those can be bent to your needs.
- Frank Herbert
Understand yourself, Piter. You want her because she was a Duke's woman, a symbol of his power—beautiful, useful, exquisitely trained for her role.
- Frank Herbert
Words can carry any burden we wish. All that's required is an agreement and a tradition upon which to build.
- Frank Herbert
No more terrible disaster could befall your people than for them to fall into the hands of a Hero.
- Frank Herbert
they were non-thinkers, attaching themselves to any fancied power for the identity which this gave them. Without a reflection from her they were empty. Thus, they were dangerous.
- Frank Herbert
It's an old, old trick of autocratic rule. Good subjects must feel guilty. The guilt begins as a feeling of failure. The good autocrat provides many opportunities for failure in the populace.
- Frank Herbert
But power deluded those who used it. One tended to believe power could overcome any barrier … including one's own ignorance.
- Frank Herbert
Many histories are largely worthless because prejudiced, written to please one powerful group or another.
- Frank Herbert