Literary Birthday – 8 October – Frank Herbert

Frank Herbert was born 8 October 1920, and died 11 February 1986.

15 Quotes

1. There is no real ending. It’s just the place where you stop the story.
2. The gift of words is the gift of deception and illusion.
3. Absolute power does not corrupt absolutely, absolute power attracts the corruptible.
4. It is impossible to live in the past, difficult to live in the present and a waste to live in the future.
5. You don’t write for success. That takes part of your attention away from the writing. If you’re really doing it, that’s all you’re doing: writing.
6. The truth always carries the ambiguity of the words used to express it.
7. To endure oneself may be the hardest task in the universe.
8. You aren’t thinking or really existing unless you’re willing to risk even your own sanity in the judgement of your existence.
9. Hope clouds observation.
10. All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities.
11. Deep in the human unconscious is a pervasive need for a logical universe that makes sense. But the real universe is always one step beyond logic.
12. There is no escape—we pay for the violence of our ancestors.
13. The mystery of life isn’t a problem to solve, but a reality to experience.
14. The function of science fiction is not always to predict the future but sometimes to prevent it.
15. What do you despise? By this are you truly known.

Frank Herbert was a critically acclaimed and commercially successful American science fiction author. He is best known for his novel, Dune and its five sequels.

by Amanda Patterson

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