Dune

I'm almost 40, so that means it's time for me to get really into Dune. I have a 1990 Ace Books mass market copy. I don't remember how I got it. But it has stellar cover typography. It felt like an insurmountable task to start...especially with the dense opening scene. But after the movies it felt more like an old friend, and I picked it up during a rough patch. Sometimes the difference between a book and movie really detract from one or the other, but I thoroughly enjoyed both. As of this writing I am working my way through God Emperor of Dune, having cruised through Dune Messiah and Children of Dune. Along the way I started dog-earing pages that I wanted to come back to. Here's a couple (with an obvious place to start):

Dune, Litany Against Fear

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to 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.

Bene Gesserit Rite recalled by Paul Atreides

Children of Dune, Good Government

Good government never depends on laws, but on the personal qualities of those who govern. The machinery of government is always subordinate to the will of those who administer that machinery. The most important element of government, therefore, is the method of choosing leaders.

Law and Governance, the Spacing Guild Manual

Children of Dune, Certainty

"Abandon certainty! That's life's deepest command. That's what life's all about. We're a probe into the unknown, into the uncertain. [...] I don't find it strange that all you want to believe is only that which comforts you. How else do humans invent the traps which betray us into mediocrity? How else do we define cowardice? [...] To exist is to stand out, away from the background"

The Preacher

Children of Dune, Certainty and Judgment

"Every judgment teeters on the brink of error. To claim absolute knowledge is to become monstrous. Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty."

Leto Atreides II

Children of Dune, People

People, not commercial organizations or chains of command, are what make great civilizations work. Every civilization depends on the quality of the individuals it produces. If you over-organize humans, over-legalize them, suppress their urge to greatness—they cannot work and their civilization collapses.

A letter to CHOAM, attributed to the Preacher

Children of Dune, Systems

The assumption that a whole system can be made to work better through an assault on its conscious elements betrays a dangerous ignorance.

The Butlerian Jihad, Harq-al Ada