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
Herbert, Frank. The Great Dune Trilogy: Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune (GOLLANCZ S.F.) (p. 246). (Function). Kindle Edition.
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
Herbert, Frank. The Great Dune Trilogy: Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune (GOLLANCZ S.F.) (p. 448). (Function). Kindle Edition.
To make the ancients speak, we must feed them with our own blood
Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff
When evening comes, I return to my home, and I go into my study; and on the thresh-hold, I take off my everyday clothes, which are covered in mud and mire,and I put on regal and curial robes; and dressed in a more appropriate manner I enter into the ancient courts of ancient men and am welcomed by them kindly, and there I taste the food that alone is mine, and for which I was born; and there I am not ashamed to speak to them, to ask them the reasons for their actions; and they, in their humanity, answer me; and for four hours I feel no boredom,I dismiss every affliction, I no longer fear poverty nor do I tremble at the thought of death; I become completely part of them.
https://it.wikisource.org/wiki/Lettere_%28Machiavelli%29/Lettera_XI_a_Francesco_Vettori
Niccolò Machiavelli’s letter to his friend Francesco Vettori,