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Good governance never depends upon laws, but upon 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.

Frank Herbert

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Frank Herbert
Age: 65 †
Born: 1920
Born: October 8
Died: 1986
Died: February 11
Author
Journalist
Novelist
Photographer
Science Fiction Writer
Writer
Tacoma
Washington
Frank Patrick Herbert
Franklin Patrick Herbert
Franklin Herbert
Franklin Patrick Herbert
Jr.
Never
Leader
Qualities
Administer
Quality
Leaders
Subordinate
Law
Method
Subordinates
Upon
Laws
Governance
Government
Elements
Govern
Important
Therefore
Machinery
Good
Depends
Choosing
Always
Personal
Element

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Riots and comedy are but symptoms of the times, profoundly revealing. They betray the psychological tone, the deep uncertainties....and the striving for something better, plus the fear that nothing would come of it all.
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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 definitions.
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Greatness is a transitory experience. It is never consistent. It depends in part upon the myth-making imagination of humankind. The person who experiences greatness must have a feeling for the myth he or she is in. That person must reflect what is projected upon him or her.
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What does a mirror look at?
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Death makes a prophet's voice louder.
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You aren't thinking or really existing unless you're willing to risk even your own sanity in the judgement of your existence.
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Words can carry any burden we wish. All that's required is agreement and a tradition upon which to build.
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When I need to identify rebels, I look for men with principles
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The hearts of all men dwell in the same wilderness.
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There are limits to power, as those who put their hopes in a constitution always discover.
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I am not the kind of person I want to be.
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I don’t think it’s quite that simple. Some people never observe anything, Life just happens to them. They get by on little more than a kind of dumb persistence, and they resist with anger and resentment anything that might lift them out of that false serenity.
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What are you, child, that you need time to learn about yourself?
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The basic lesson of our relativistic universe is that things change. Any power must always meet a greater power.
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The future remains uncertain and so it should, for it is the canvas upon which we paint our desires. Thus always the human condition faces a beautifully empty canvas. We possess only this moment in which to dedicate ourselves continuously to the sacred presence which we share and create.
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The most persistent principles in the universe are accident and error.
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Grief is the price of victory.
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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.
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Only gods can safely risk perfection ... it's a dangerous thing for a man.
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