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The function of science fiction is not always to predict the future but sometimes to prevent it.

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.
Predict
Prevent
Function
Fiction
Future
Science
Sometimes
Always

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A requirement of creativity is that it contributes to change. Creativity keeps the creator alive.
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The purpose of argument is to change the nature of truth.
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Technology is both a tool for helping humans and for destroying them. This is the paradox of our times which we're compelled to face.
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Beware of the truth, gentle Sister. Although much sought after, truth can be dangerous to the seeker. Myths and reassuring lies are much easier to find and believe. If you find a truth, even a temporary one, it can demand that you make painful changes. Conceal your truths within words. Natural ambiguity will protect you then.
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Politics: the art of appearing candid and completely open while concealing as much as possible.
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Logic is good for playing chess but is often too slow for the needs of survival.
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You do not take from this universe. It grants you what it will.
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Beware! The mind of the believer stagnates. It fails to grow outward into an unlimited, infinite universe.
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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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The vision of time is broad, but when you pass through it, time becomes a narrow door.
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There is no escape - we pay for the violence of our ancestors.
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We are generalists. You can't draw neat lines around planet-wide problems. Planetology is a cut-and-fit science.
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There is no real ending. It’s just the place where you stop the story.
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We’ve lost something vital, I tell you. When we lost it, we lost the ability to make good decisions. We fall upon decisions these days the way we fall upon an enemy—or wait and wait, which is a form of giving up, and we allow the decisions of others to move us. Have we forgotten that we were the ones who set this current flowing?
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Why is it that foolishness repeats itself with such monotonous precision?
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Ready comprehension is often a knee-jerk response and the most dangerous form of understanding. It blinks an opaque screen over your ability to learn. The judgmental precedents of law function that way, littering your path with dead ends. Be warned. Understand nothing. All comprehension is temporary.
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They say they seek security and quiet, the condition they call peace. Even as they speak they create the seeds of turmoil and violence.
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If there is a difference between what is said and what is done, only a fool believes what was said.
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People don't vote. Instinct tells them it's useless.
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The difference between sentiment and being sentimental is the following: Sentiment is when a driver swerves out of the way to avoid hitting a rabbit on the road. Being sentimental is when the same driver, when swerving away from the rabbit, hits a pedestrian.
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