You think power may be the most unstable of all human achievements? Then what
of the apparent exceptions to this inherent instability? Some families endure.
Very powerful religious bureaucracies have been known to endure. Consider the
relationship between faith and power. Are they mutually exclusive when each
depends upon the other? The Bene Gesserit have been reasonably secure within
the loyal walls of faith for thousands of years. But where has their power gone?

-The Stolen Journals