# Quote — Frank Herbert, God Emperor of Dune

> Let me but imagine a topic — say... men who have died by the sword— and I have them in all of their gore, every image intact, every moan, every grimace. Joys of motherhood, I think, and the birthing beds are mine. Serial baby smiles and the sweet cooings of new generations. The first walkings of toddlers and the first victories of youths brought forth for me to share. They tumble one upon another until I can see little else but sameness and repetition. "Keep it all intact," I warn myself. Who can deny the value of such experiences, the worth of the learning through which I view each new instant? Ahhh, but it's the past. Don't you understand? It's only the past!

- Author: [Frank Herbert](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert.md)
- Book: [God Emperor of Dune](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/god-emperor-of-dune.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dune#God_Emperor_of_Dune_(1981)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/god-emperor-of-dune/let-me-but

## More from this book

> The defiling of a god is an ancient human tradition. Why should I be an exception?

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/god-emperor-of-dune/the-defiling-of-a-god.md)

> Odd as it may seem, great struggles such as the one you can see emerging from my journals are not always visible to the participants. Much depends on what people dream in the secrecy of their hearts. I have always been as concerned with the shaping of dreams as with the shaping of actions. Between the lines of my journals is the struggle with humankind's view of itself — a sweaty contest on a field where motives from our darkest past can well up out of an unconscious reservoir and become events with which we not only must live but contend. It is the hydra-headed monster which always attacks from your blind side. I pray, therefore, that when you have traversed my portion of the Golden Path you no longer will be innocent children dancing to music you cannot hear.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/god-emperor-of-dune/odd-as-it-may.md)

> It is difficult to live in the present, pointless to live in the future and impossible to live in the past.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/frank-herbert/god-emperor-of-dune/it-is-difficult.md)