Politics Quotes by Frank Herbert

Absolute power does not corrupt absolutely, absolute power attracts the corruptible.

— Frank Herbert

When religion and politics travel in the same cart, the riders believe nothing can stand in their way.

— Frank Herbert

When religion and politics ride in the same cart, the whirlwind follows.

— Frank Herbert

Blood is thicker than water, but politics are thicker than blood.

— Frank Herbert

Religion, too, is a weapon. What manner of weapon is religion when it becomes the government?

— Frank Herbert

Politics: the art of appearing candid and completely open while concealing as much as possible.

— Frank Herbert

Question: Who governs the governors? Answer: Entropy

— Frank Herbert

All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities.

— Frank Herbert

“Government and religion united, and breaking a law became sin. A smell of blasphemy arose like smoke around any questioning of governmental…

— Frank Herbert

Governments always commit their entire populations when the demands grow heavy enough. By their passive acceptance, these populations become accessories to whatever…

— Frank Herbert

Governments do not know what they cannot do until after they cease to be governments. Each government carries the seeds of its…

— Frank Herbert

There exists a limit to the force even the most powerful may apply without destroying themselves. Judging this limit is the true…

— Frank Herbert

All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to…

— Frank Herbert

“All governments needed to remain under suspicion during their time of power including that of the Sisterhood itself. Trust no government! Not…

— Frank Herbert

When politics and religion are intermingled, a people is suffused with a sense of invulnerability, and gathering speed in their forward charge,…

— Frank Herbert

Governments can be useful to the governed only so long as inherent tendencies toward tyranny are restrained.

— Frank Herbert

“When religion and politics travel in the same cart, the riders believe nothing can stand in their way. Their movements become headlong…

— Frank Herbert

“Grave this on your memory, lad: A world is supported by four things..." she held up four big-knuckled fingers. "...the learning of…

— Frank Herbert

“There exists a limit to the force even the most powerful may apply without destroying themselves. Judging this limit is the true…

— Frank Herbert

Good governance never depends upon laws, but upon the personal qualities of those who govern. The machinery of government is always subordinate…

— Frank Herbert

Governments, if they endure, always tend increasingly toward aristocratic forms. No government in history has been known to evade this pattern. And…

— Frank Herbert

All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to…

— Frank Herbert

“Right from the first, the little people who formed the governments which promised to equalize the social burdens found themselves suddenly in…

— Frank Herbert

I hear the wind blowing across the desert and I see the moons of a winter night rising like great ships in…

— Frank Herbert

“You cannot avoid the interplay of politics within an orthodox religion. The power struggle permeates the training, education and disciplining of the…

— Frank Herbert

“The convoluted wording of legalisms grew up around the necessity to hide from ourselves the violence we intend toward each other. Between…

— Frank Herbert

“They were buffoons with barricaded eyes, their shoulders held in positions of immovable defense. Each position upon the great floor could be…

— Frank Herbert

“Among my father’s most important messages were that governments lie to protect themselves and they make incredibly stupid decisions. Years after the…

— Frank Herbert

“Governments, if they endure, always tend increasingly toward aristocratic forms. No government in history has been known to evade this pattern. And…

— Frank Herbert

“Governments may rise and fall for reasons which appear insignificant, Prince. What small events! An argument between two women . . .…

— Frank Herbert

Major flaw in government arise from a fear of making radical internal changes even though a need is clearly seen.

— Frank Herbert

“Empires do not suffer emptiness of purpose at the time of their creation. It is when they have become established that aims…

— Frank Herbert

“Democracy is susceptible to being led astray by having scapegoats paraded in front of the electorate. Get the rich, the greedy, the…

— Frank Herbert

In politics, the tripod is he most unstable of all structures. It's be bad enough without the complication of a feudal trade…

— Frank Herbert

“Frank Herbert warned young people not to trust government, telling them that the American founding fathers had understood this and had attempted…

— Frank Herbert

You can't build politics on love. People aren't concerned with love; it's too disordered. They prefer despotism. Too much freedom breeds chaos.

— Frank Herbert

If you think of yourselves as helpless and ineffectual, it is certain that you will create a despotic government to be your…

— Frank Herbert

“Schools were started to train human talents... The Guild... emphasizes almost pure mathematics. Bene Gesserit performs... politics. The original Bene Gesserit school…

— Frank Herbert