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 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 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 man.
from "Collected Sayings of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan
Dune

"There is no escape - we pay for the violence of our ancestors."
from "The Collected Sayings of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan
Dune

There should be a science of discontent. People need hard times and oppression to develop psychic muscles.
from "Collected Sayings of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan
Dune

Arrakis teaches the attitude of the knife - chopping off what's incomplete and saying: "Now, it's complete because it's ended here."
from "Collected Sayings of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan
Dune

The concept of progress acts as a protective mechanism to shield us from the terrors of the future.
from "Collected Sayings of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan
Dune

Deep in the unconscious is a pervasive need for a logical universe that makes sense. But the real universe is always one step beyond logic.
from "The Sayings of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan
Dune

There is in all things a pattern that is part of our universe. It has symmetry, elegance, and grace - those qualities you find always in that which the true artist captures. You can find it in the turning of the seasons, in the way the sand trails along a ridge, in the branch clusters of the creosote bush or the pattern of its leaves. We try to copy these patterns in our lives and our society, seeking the rhythms, the dances, the forms that comfort. Yet it is possible to see the peril in the finding of ultimate perfection. It is clear that the ultimate pattern contains its own fixity. In such perfection, all things move toward death.
from "The Collected Sayings of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan
Dune

How often it is that the angry man rages denial of what his inner self is telling him.
"The Collected Sayings of Muad'Dib" by the Princess Irulan
Dune