Frank Herbert (1920–86,) fully Franklin Patrick Herbert Jr., was an American science-fiction writer. He is most famous for his Dune novels that feature a desert planet where people survive only because they’ve learned to conserve and recycle water.
Born in Tacoma, Washington, Herbert was a photographer during World War II. He attended the University of Washington but left to become a journalist before turning to full-time fiction writing. His first novel, The Dragon in the Sea (1956,) is an acute psychological study set on a submarine.
Herbert is best known for his five novels about the desert planet Dune (1965–85.) One of the most complex and fully realized examples of an alternative world in science fiction, the Dune series has sold more than 12 million copies.
Herbert’s themes included developing higher or artificial intelligence in human and non-human species, genetic engineering, and ecology. His other notable titles include The Green Brain (1966,) The Santaroga Barrier (1968,) and Hellstrom’s Hive (1973.)
Herbert also published four collections of short stories, including The Collected Stories of Frank Herbert (2014.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Frank Herbert
What senses do we lack that we cannot see or hear another world all around us?
—Frank Herbert
Topics: World
Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
—Frank Herbert
Topics: Death, Past, Fear, Courage
If you think of yourselves as helpless and ineffectual, it is certain that you will create a despotic government to be your master. The wise despot, therefore, maintains among his subjects a popular sense that they are helpless and ineffectual.
—Frank Herbert
Respect for the truth comes close to being the basis for all morality.
—Frank Herbert
Topics: Truth
The concept of progress acts as a protective mechanism to shield us from the terrors of the future.
—Frank Herbert
Topics: Progress
The beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we do not understand.
—Frank Herbert
Topics: Discovery, Knowledge
Without change, something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.
—Frank Herbert
Topics: Change
When law and duty are one, united by religion, you never become fully conscious, fully aware of yourself. You are always a little less than an individual.
—Frank Herbert
Topics: Duty
They made the fatal decision: they’d chosen always the clear, safe course that leads ever downward into stagnation.
—Frank Herbert
Topics: War
There’s no secret to balance. You just have to feel the waves.
—Frank Herbert
Guilt starts as a feeling of failure.
—Frank Herbert
People need hard times and oppression to develop psychic muscles.
—Frank Herbert
Topics: Adversity
Journalism is the entertainment business.
—Frank Herbert
Topics: Journalism
Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty.
—Frank Herbert
Topics: Desire, Discipline, Freedom
The human question is not how many can possibly survive within the system, but what kind of existence is possible for those who do survive.
—Frank Herbert
Topics: Life
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