There are so many amazing and thought-provoking quotes in the Dune novels. And there are probably some new ones in the movies too.
If you had to pick just one quote from the Dune universe, one that really made you think about life and our place in it, what would it be?
Mine is probably:
The mind commands the body and it obeys. The mind orders itself and meets resistance.
I’m partial to the litany against fear. Not super deep, but I can say I’ve recited it quietly to myself a few times! It’s a decent tool to acknowledge, process, then repress and move past true 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
Not as a quote, but as a line in the context of the book, “They tried to kill my son” repeated over and over was a great illustration of a rational, quite staid man fighting a building rage and becoming something different.
It also served to humanise the Duke right before the tooth scene, building an empathetic connection to make us care about that scene more.
A deceptively simple line used incredibly well.
For pure quotage “It is by will alone I set my mind in motion”.
