# Quote — Frank Herbert, Dune Messiah

> “’Government cannot be religious and self-assertive at the same time. Religious experience needs a spontaneity which laws inevitably suppress. And you cannot govern without laws. Your laws eventually must replace morality, replace conscience, replace even the religion by which you think to govern. Sacred ritual must spring from praise and holy yearnings which hammer out a significant morality. Government, on the other hand, is a cultural organism particularly attractive to doubts, questions and contentions. I see the day coming when ceremony must take the place of faith and symbolism replaces morality.’”

- Author: [Frank Herbert](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert.md)
- Book: [Dune Messiah](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune-messiah.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dune#Dune_Messiah_(1969)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune-messiah/government-cannot-be-religious

## More from this book

> There was a man so wise
>
> He jumped into
>
> A sandy place
>
> And burnt out both his eyes!
>
> And when he knew his eyes were gone,
>
> He offered no complaint.
>
> He summoned up a vision
>
> And made himself a saint.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune-messiah/there-was-a-man.md)

> “’Rulers are notoriously cynical where religions are concerned. Religion, too, is a weapon. What manner of weapon is religion when it becomes the government?’”

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune-messiah/rulers-are-notoriously.md)

> What is more ridiculous than a Death Commando transformed into a priest?

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/dune-messiah/what-is-more.md)