chapterhouse dune quotes

Corruption wears infinite disguises.

-Tleilaxu Thu-zen

Our household god is this thing we carry forward generation after generation:
our message for humankind if it matures. The closest thing we have to a
household goddess is a failed Reverend Mother -- Chenoeh there in her niche.

-Darwi Odrade

Enter no conflict against fanatics unless you can defuse them. Oppose a
religion with another religion only if your proofs (miracles) are irrefutable
or if you can mesh in a way that the fanatics accept you as god-inspired. This
has long been the barrier to science assuming a mantle of divine revelation.
Science is so obviously manmade. Fanatics (and many are fanatic on one subject
or another) must know where you stand, but more important, must recognize who
whispers in your ear.

-Missionaria Protectiva, Primary Teaching

Spend energies on those who make you strong. Energy spent on weaklings drags
you to doom. (HM rule) Bene Gesserit Commentary: Who judges?

-The Dortujla Record

Education is no substitute for intelligence. That elusive quality is defined
only in part by puzzle-solving ability. It is in the creation of new puzzles
reflecting what your senses report that you round out the definition.

-Mentat Text One (decto)

Many things we do naturally become difficult only when we try to make them
intellectual subjects. It is possible to know so much about a subject that you
become totally ignorant.

-Mentat Text Two (dicto)

Confine yourself to observing and you always miss the point of your own life.
The object can be stated this way: Live the best life you can. Life is a game
whose rules you learn if you leap into it and play it to the hilt. Otherwise,
you are caught off balance, continually surprised by the shifting play.
Non-players often whine and complain that luck always passes them by. They
refuse to see that they can create some of their own luck.

-Darwi Odrade

When I set out to lead humanity along my Golden Path I promised a lesson their
bones would remember. I know a profound pattern humans deny with words even
while their actions affirm it. They say they seek security and quiet,
conditions they call peace. Even as they speak, they create seeds of turmoil
and violence.

-Leto II, the God Emperor

Paired opposites define your longings and those longings imprison you.

-The Zensunni Whip

Battle? There's always a desire for breathing space motivating it somewhere.

-The Bashar Teg

Time does not count itself. You have only to look at a circle and this is
apparent.

-Leto II (The Tyrant)

We walk a delicate line, perpetuating Atreides (Siona) genes in our population
because that hides us from prescience. We carry the Kwisatz Haderach in that
bag! Willfulness created Muad'Dib. Prophets make predictions come true! Will
we ever again dare ignore our Tao sense and cater to a culture that hates
chance and begs for prophecy?

-Archival Summary (adixto)

A major concept guides the Missionaria Protectiva: Purposeful instruction of
the masses. This is firmly seated in our belief that the aim of argument
should be to change the nature of truth. In such matters, we prefer the use of
power rather than force.

-The Coda

Humans are born with a susceptibility to that most persistent and debilitating
disease of intellect: self-deception. The best of all possible worlds and the
worst get their dramatic coloration from it. As nearly as we can determine,
there is no natural immunity. Constant alertness is required.

-The Coda

Ultimately, all things are known because you want to believe you know.

-Zensunni koan

When are the witches to be trusted? Never! The dark side of the magic
universe belongs to the Bene Gesserit and we must reject them.

-Tylwyth Waff, Master of Masters

Looked at one way, the universe is Brownian movement, nothing predictable at
the elemental level. Muad'Dib and his Tyrant son closed the cloud chamber
where movement occurred.

-Stories from Gammu

Religion must be accepted as a source of energy. It can be directed for our
purposes, but only within limits that experience reveals. Here is the secret
meaning of Free Will.

-Missionaria Protectiva, Primary Teaching

There's no secret to balance. You just have to feel the waves.

-Darwi Odrade

What do Holy Accidents teach? Be resilient. Be strong. Be ready for change,
for the new. Gather many experiences and judge them by the steadfast nature of
our faith.

-Tleilaxu Doctrine