on the words of others
i have started a new category here on my site, specifically for quotes. i know there is that one quote which says that using quotes means you cannot come up with your own ideas, but ever since i was about ten i have been dog-earing pages of books, telling myself i would one day compile all the amazing quotes that jump off the pages straight into my heart.
so, i begin with this monumental task, as i have a lot of dog-eared books, and i read more every week. right now, i am re-reading Dune, by Frank Herbert. i have read this entire series about six times, and it is rife with pithy sayings. here are a few to start:
"a beginning it the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct."
"a world is supported by four things... the learning of the wise, the justice of the great, the prayers of the righteous and the valor of the brave. but all of these are as nothing without a ruler who knows the art of ruling."
(i do believe our politicians should take note of this one.)
"any road followed precisely to its end leads precisely nowhere. climb the mountain just a little bit to test that it's a mountain. from the top of the mountain, you cannot see the mountain." - bene gesserit proverb
(how very capricornian! i love it.)
"greatness is a transitory experience. it is never consistent. it depends in part on the myth-making imagination of humankind. the person who experiences greatness must have a feeling for the myth he is in. he must reflect what is projected upon him. and he must have a strong sense of the sardonic. this is what uncouples him from the belief in his own pretensions. the sardonic is all that permits him to move within himself. without this quality, even occasional greatness will destroy a [hu]man." - collected saying of Muad'Dib
"the mind can go either direction under stress - toward positive or toward negative: on or off. think of it as a spectrum whose extremes are unconsciousness at the negative end and hyperconsciousness at the positive end. the way the mind will lean under stress is strongly influenced by training." - bene gesserit axiom
"spannungsbogen - the self-imposed delay between desire for a thing and the act of reaching out to grasp that thing."
(the good ole concept of delayed gratification, which i learned from my mother over a bag of m&m's, maybe about age eight.)
and finally, a point that many on our planet could stand to take home:
beyond a critical point in a finite space, freedom diminishes as numbers increase. this is as true of humans in the finite space of a planetary ecosystem as it is of gas molecules in a sealed flask. 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.
see, the Dune series is not really science fiction. Herbert was writing about economics, ecology, psychology, religion, politics, imperialism, and what a huge mess it can all turn into. i think we are witnessing a great deal of what he wrote about 45 years ago today, with the spice being oil, the imperials being the neocons, etc, etc.
great book.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 at 8:46 pm and is filed under Journal, quotes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
