Themes & Philosophy

The central themes of the book are:

• The psychological training and mental discipline required of Paul.
• The harsh ecology of the desert planet and adaptation to scarcity.
• The mysterious Fremen and their deeper understanding of the desert Arrakis.
• Paul’s emerging prescient abilities and sense of destiny.
• The central importance of the spice melange.
• Political betrayals, manipulation, and treachery.

Quotes

Fear and Purpose

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.

The old woman had gained a power over him. They spoke truth. His mother had undergone this test. There must be terrible purpose in it…the pain and fear had been terrible. He understood terrible purposes. They drove against all odds. They were their own necessity. Paul felt that he had been infected with terrible purpose.

The Fremen

Desert Wisdom

Polish comes from the cities; wisdom from the desert.

Warning of Betrayal

We Fremen pay our debts—be they black debts or white debts. And it’s known to us that you’ve a traitor in your midst. Who it is, we cannot say, but we’re certain sure of it.

Wisdom

The Mystery of Life

She said the mystery of life isn’t a problem to solve, but a reality to experience.

Arrakis - The Desert Planet

The Attitude of the Knife

Arrakis teaches the attitude of the knife—chopping off what’s incomplete and saying: ‘Now, it’s complete because it’s ended here.‘

Desert, Water, and Ecology

Stillsuits

They all wear those great flowing robes. And they stink to heaven in any closed space. It’s from those suits they wear—call them ‘stillsuits’—that reclaim the body’s own water.

Desert Life

All of our birds, of course, are carrion-eaters, and many exist without water, having become blood-drinkers.