Dune (film)

Quotes from Dune, the 1984 motion picture directed by David Lynch, based on the novel Dune by Frank Herbert. See also Dune (TV miniseries) and the 2021 remake.

Princess Irulan

A beginning is a very delicate time. Know then that it is the year 10,191. The Known Universe is ruled by the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV, my father. In this time, the most precious substance in the universe is the spice Melange. The spice extends life. The spice expands consciousness. The spice is vital to space travel. The Spacing Guild and its navigators, who the spice has mutated over 4,000 years, use the orange spice gas, which gives them the ability to fold space. That is, travel to any part of the universe without moving.
Oh, yes. I forgot to tell you — the spice exists on only one planet in the entire universe. A desolate, dry planet with vast deserts. Hidden away within the rocks of these deserts are a people known as the Fremen, who have long held a prophecy that a man would come, a messiah who would lead them to true freedom. The planet is Arrakis, also known as Dune.
- Introductory narrative
The powerful Bene Gesserit sisterhood for 90 generations has been manipulating bloodlines to produce the Kwisatz Haderach, a super being. On Caladan, Jessica, a member of the sisterhood and the bound concubine of Duke Leto Atreides, had been ordered to bear only daughters. Because of her love for the Duke, she disobeyed, and gave birth to a son. Paul... Paul Atreides.
- Introducing House Atreides
House Atreides took control of Arrakis 63 standard days into the year 10,191. It was known that the Harkonnens, the former rulers of Arrakis, would leave many suicide troops behind. Atreides patrols were doubled.
Following the Bene Gesserit tradition, the old Reverend Mother surrendered her life as she surrendered her knowledge. Jessica has successfully transmuted the poisonous Water of Life. The tremendous power of the Water of Life caused the premature birth of Jessica's daughter, Alia. Alia was born with all the knowledge and powers of a Reverend Mother.
In the two standard years that followed, Muad'Dib and his Fremen brought spice production to a standstill. Fearing for his life, Rabban did his best to hide this fact from his uncle, the Baron. Paul's sister, Alia, matured at a frightening rate. Her small body harbored tremendous powers. Paul and Chani's love grew.
Muad'dib had become the hand of God, fulfilling the Fremen prophecy. Where there was war, Muad'dib would now bring peace. Where there was hatred, Muad'dib would bring love. To lead the people to true freedom, and to change the face of Arrakis.
- Final line spoken by Irulan, when Paul becomes Emperor, just before Arrakis has its first rainfall

Duke Leto Atreides

Thank you for joining me, Paul. Thufir Hawat has served House Atreides for three generations. He swears you are the finest student he has ever taught. Yueh, Gurney and Duncan say the same. It makes me feel very proud.
I'll miss the sea, but a person needs new experiences. They jar something deep inside, allowing him to grow. Without change something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.
- As House Atreides prepares to leave Caladan for Arrakis
[voiceover] Jessica, what is wrong? Forgive me, my beloved concubine. I should have married you. Why hold a dream to ascend to a throne through a political marriage? I should have married you.

Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV

The Atreides house is building a secret army, using a technique unknown to us; a technique involving sound. The Duke is becoming more popular in the Landsraad; he could threaten me. I have ordered House Atreides to occupy Arrakis, to mine the spice, thus replacing their enemies, the Harkonnens. House Atreides will not refuse because of the tremendous power they think they will gain. Then, at an appointed time, Baron Harkonnen will return to Arrakis and launch a sneak attack on House Atreides. I have promised the Baron five legions of my Sardukar terror-troops.
- In conversation with a Third Stage Spacing Guild Navigator, regarding the Atreides/Harkonnen feud and control of Arrakis and how the Atreides will be felled
This is genocide! The deliberate and systematic destruction of all life on Arrakis!
- Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV
Bring in that floating fat man, the Baron!
- Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV, after the Fremen succeed in their assaults on the spice trade.

Paul Atreides

Also known as Muad'Dib and Usul, among the Fremen

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.
- Reciting the Bene Gesserit Litany against Fear
Remember: Walk without rhythm and we won't attract the worm. It will go to the thumper.
- To his mother, as they try to reach safety of rock outcrops in the desert.
This is part of the weirding way that we will teach you. Some thoughts have a certain sound, that being equivalent to a form. Through sound and motion, you will be able to paralyze nerves, shatter bones, set fires, suffocate an enemy or burst his organs. We will kill until no Harkonnen breathes Arrakeen air.
- Instructing Fremen on the use of weirding modules.
My name is a killing word. They are ready to fight. Yet in order to lead them, I must conquer the worm ... conquer Shai-Hulud.
- After one of the Fedaykin begins to ask a question of Muad'Dib while holding a weirding module.
I'm dead to everyone unless I try to become what I may be.
I am Usul. Paul Muad'Dib. Our shared enemy, the Harkonnens, are once again in control of Arrakis. Stilgar, your leader, has asked me and my mother to teach you the weirding way to crush the Harkonnens. We must do more than this, we must totally destroy all spice production on Arrakis. The Guild and the entire universe depends on spice. He who can destroy a thing, controls a thing. I will take 100 of your warriors and train them, this 100 will train the thousands that remain. When the spice flow stops, all eyes will turn to Arrakis. The Baron and the Emperor himself will be forced to deal with us. Arrakis will become the center of the universe.
- To the Fremen Warriors in his first speech offering to train the Fremen before their battle.
When the spice flow stops, all eyes will turn to Arrakis. The Baron and the Emperor himself will be forced to deal with us.
Your time has come. A storm is coming. Our storm. And when it arrives, it will shake the universe. Emperor...we come for you!!
Long live the fighters!
Father... father, the sleeper has awakened!
- After surviving the spice agony on taking the Water of Life.
We Fremen have a saying: "God created Arrakis to train the faithful." One cannot go against the word of God.

Liet-Kynes

(Thinking about Leto's reaction after the sandworm attack) He's more concerned about the men than the spice. I must admit, against all judgement, I like this duke.

Chani

Tell me of your homeworld, Usul.
- Words Paul Atreides had foreseen that she would express to him in a vision-dream, before they had ever met, and before he had yet received the name Usul.
(Before Paul takes the Water of Life) Paul... whatever happens, I will love you forever. You are my life. You are my life.

Others

Did you really think you could bear the Kwisatz Haderach, the universe's super being? How dare you! My greatest student... and my greatest disappointment.
- Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam
It is by will alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the juice of Sapho that thoughts acquire speed, the lips acquire stains, the stains become a warning. It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
- The Mentat Mantra, recited by Piter De Vries
Feyd, Rabban, go quietly. No other great house of the Landsraad must ever know of the Emperor's aid to the Baron. The entire Landsraad would turn against the Baron and the Emperor.
- Piter De Vries
A secret report within the Guild. Four planets have come to our attention... regarding a plot which could jeopardize spice production. Planet Arrakis, source of the spice. Planet Caladan, home of House Atreides. Planet Giedi Prime, home of House Harkonnen. Planet Kaitain, home of the Emperor of the Known Universe. Send a third stage Guild Navigator to Kaitain to demand details from the Emperor. The spice must flow...
- A member of the Spacing Guild, from a special report within the Guild
The Bene Gesserit witch must leave.
- A Guildsman tells the Emperor that his Truthsayer has to leave the room
I mean Paul Atreides. We want him killed. Blend his extinction into your recipe and you will come with a meal to our liking. I did not say this. I am not here.
- Third stage Guild navigator, informing the Emperor that they want Paul Atreides killed during Baron Harkonnen's invasion of Arrakis.
Put the pick in there, Pete, and turn it round real neat. ...You are so beautiful, my Baron. Your skin — love to me. Your diseases — lovingly cared for for all eternity!
- The Baron Harkonnen's doctor treating the pustules of his skin
My lord, I suspect so much. I think the Fremen are the allies we seek. They are strong, fierce. They do not give their loyalty easily or quickly. As you know, the Imperium has never been able to take a census of the Fremen. Everyone thinks that there are but few wandering here and there in the desert. My lord, I suspect an incredible secret has been kept on this planet, that the Fremen exist in vast numbers—vast—and it is they who control Arrakis.
- Duncan Idaho talking to Duke Leto about the Fremen
Hmmm. Shai-hulud.
- Stilgar and the Fremen, chanting.
Who is the little one, a pet perhaps? Will she deserve my special attentions?
- Feyd-Rautha, about Chani
Why prolong the inevitable? I will kill you! — I will kill him! I WILL KILL HIM!!!
- Feyd-Rautha armed with the Emperor's blade against Paul Atreides

Dialogue

Paul Atreides: I know, Thufir, I'm sitting with my back to the door. I hear you, Dr. Yueh, and Gurney coming down the hall.

Thufir Hawat: Those sounds could be imitated!

Paul: I'd know the difference.

Thufir: [voiceover] Yes, perhaps he would at that.

Paul Atreides: My father sent you to test me. Music, then?

Gurney Halleck: No music — I'm packing this [puts down his baliset] for the crossing. Shield practice.

Paul: Shield practice? Gurney, I thought we had practice this morning. I'm not in the mood.

Gurney: Not in the mood?! Mood's a thing for cattle and love play, not fighting.

Paul: I'm sorry, Gurney.

Gurney: [draws a knife and raises his body shield] Not sorry enough.

Paul Atreides: [holding a knife to Gurney's throat] Is this what you seek?

Gurney Halleck: Good. The slow blade penetrates the shield, but ah, look down. [Paul sees Gurney's blade at his own waist.] We'd have joined each other in death. You did seem, finally, to get in the mood. [they both turn their shields off]

Paul: Would you really have drawn my blood?

Gurney: If you had fought one whit below your abilities, I'd have given you a good scar to remind you.

Paul: Things have been so serious here lately.

Gurney: Soon we leave for Arrakis. Arrakis is real. The Harkonnens are real.

Paul Atreides: Duncan!

Duncan Idaho: Paul. I was just on my way to say good-bye to you. I have to go on ahead, alone. I won't be seeing you for a while.

Paul: I wish you were coming with us. Why?

Duncan: There's something for your father. He wants to talk to you. I'll see you on Arrakis. May the hand of God be with you.

Paul: May the hand of God be with us all, Duncan.

Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam: Jessica, you were told to bear only daughters to the Atreides. [Jessica ignores her, lost in thought] Jessica!

Jessica Atreides: It meant so much to him.

Reverend Mother: You thought only of a Duke's desire for a son?! Desires don't come into this. An Atreides daughter could've been wed to a Harkonnen heir and sealed the breach! We may lose both bloodlines now.

Jessica: I vowed never to regret my decision. I'll pay for all my own mistakes.

Reverend Mother: And your son will pay with you!

Paul Atreides: What's in the box?

Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam: Pain. I hold at your neck the gom jabbar. This one kills only animals.

Paul Atreides: Are you suggesting the Duke's son is an animal?

Reverend Mother: Let us say I suggest you may be human. Your awareness may be powerful enough to control your instincts. Your instinct would be to remove your hand from the box. If you do so, you die. You will feel... an itching... there! Now, the itching becomes burning. Heat upon heat upon heat.

Paul: It burns!

Reverend Mother: Silence! SILENCE!!

Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam: Do you know of the Water of Life? The bile of the newborn worms of Arrakis?

Paul Atreides: I have heard of it.

Reverend Mother: It is very dangerous and deadly. The Bene Gesserit women who drink it use it to see from within. There is a place... terrifying to us... to women. It is said... a man will come... the Kwisatz Haderach. He will go where we cannot. Many men have tried.

Paul: They tried and failed?

Reverend Mother: They tried and died.

Piter de Vries: As you instructed me, I have enlightened your nephews concerning our plan to—

Baron Vladimir Harkonnen: My plan!

Piter de Vries: ...the plan... to crush the Atreides.

Baron Vladimir Harkonnen: I will have Arrakis back for myself! He who controls the spice controls the universe, and what Piter did not tell you is we have control of someone who is very close — very close! — to Duke Leto. This person — this traitor — will be worth more to us than ten legions of Sardaukar!

Feyd-Rautha: And who is this traitor?

Baron: I won't tell you who the traitor is, or when we'll attack. However, the Duke will die before these eyes and he'll know — he'll know! — that it is I, Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, who encompasses his doom!

Dr. Wellington Yueh: I sabotaged the house generators. We are wide open! I've destroyed the new army's weirding modules. I've brought House Atreides down.

Duke Leto Atreides: Why?

Yueh: I wish to kill a man. Not you, my dear Duke. You are already dead. But you will get close to the Baron before you die. You will be tied and drugged, but you can still attack. You can still attack! When you see the Baron, you will have a new poison gas tooth. He'll want you close so he can gloat over you. One bite on this tooth, and a strong exhale...

Leto: Refuse...

Yueh: No! You mustn't! Because in return, I'll save the lives of your Paul and Jessica. (Yueh removes the Ducal signet ring from his finger) For Paul. (Yueh then takes out the Duke's organic tooth and replaces it with a poison gas capsule in his tooth) When you see the Baron, remember the tooth, the tooth, (echo) the tooth.

Iakin Nefud: What are your orders, Piter?

Piter De Vries: (referring to Jessica and Paul) Take them to the desert as the traitor suggested. The worms will destroy the evidence. Their bodies must never be found.

Paul Atreides: What do you call the mouse shadow on the second moon?

Stilgar: We call that one Muad'Dib.

Paul: Could I be known as Paul Muad'Dib?

Stilgar: You are Paul Muad'Dib, and your mother shall be a Sayyadina among us... We welcome you.

Paul: [thinks] The dream unfolds.

Baron Vladimir Harkonnen: Feyd, even though he's aging, Thufir's one of the finest Mentats in the universe. And he's mine, Feyd, all mine. Quiet now.

Feyd-Rautha: I will.

Baron: Come. Oh, Thufir! I see they've installed your heart plug already. Don't be angry; everyone gets one here, but this is not why we're here. We've brought you a little cat, Thufir. You must care for it if you wish to live. A poison has been introduced into your body, Thufir Hawat. By milking this, this smooth little cat's body, you'll receive your antidote. It must be done each day!

Feyd-Rautha: All I can see is an Atreides that I want to kill.

Baron: Feyd, no. No! Thufir's a Harkonnen now. Aren't you, Thufir?

Thufir Hawat: [voiceover] My Duke, how I've failed you.

Paul Atreides: You've no need for your weapons with me, Gurney Halleck.

Gurney Halleck: Paul? Paul?

Paul: Don't you trust your own eyes?

Gurney: They said you were dead. They said— [sees Paul's signet ring and embraces him] You young pup! You young pup!

Spacing Guildsman: Emperor Shaddam IV, you have one last chance to take matters into your own hands and bring the situation under control on Arrakis.

Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV: What do you mean, one last—

Spacing Guildsman: Do not speak! Listen! You do not have more than this one chance! I represent the entire Guild in this matter! Our navigators warn you that spice production is in great danger! A new Fremen leader, Muad'dib, has stopped spice mining on Arrakis! Our navigators suggest he is not of Arrakis. No one on the outside world has been able to see him. We do not know who he is. The Harkonnens cannot stop him. Remedy the situation! Restore spice production, or you will live out your life in a pain amplifier!

Muad'Dib: Gurney, when the storm hits, set off the atomics. I want an opening through the entire Shield Wall. Stilgar, do we have wormsign?

Stilgar: Usul, we have wormsign the likes of which even God has never seen.

Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV: Why have you brought me here?

Baron Vladimir Harkonnen: Your Highness, there must be some mistake. I never requested your presence.

Emperor: Ah, but your lack of action demanded it. Your dreadful mismanagement, your bad judgment in assigning to Rabban the governorship! You have forced me to come here and set things straight personally!

Alia Atreides: I am a messenger from Muad'Dib. Poor Emperor. I'm afraid my brother won't be very pleased with you.

Emperor: Silence!

Reverand Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam: Kill this child. She's an abomination. Kill her! [groans then yells at Alia] Get out of my mind!

Alia: Not until you tell them both who I really am!

Reverend Mother: Alia, daughter of Duke Leto the Just and the royal lady Jessica, sister of Paul Muad'Dib.

Emperor: Paul's sister? Paul is Muad'Dib?

Paul Atreides: Emperor Shaddam IV, there are Guild heighliners above us containing many great Houses of the Landsraad. Send them back!

Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV: How dare you speak to me in that—

Spacing Guild Agent: Stop your speaking!

Paul: You have some idea of what I could do. [to Reverend Mother Mohiam] Don't try your powers on me! Try looking into that place where you dare not look. You'll find me there, staring back at you.

Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam: You mustn't speak—

Paul: Silence! I remember your Gom Jabbar. Now you'll remember mine. I can kill with a word.

Fremen warrior: And his word shall carry death eternal to those who stand against the righteous.

Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen: The righteous?

Paul: There is a Harkonnen among you. Give the Harkonnen a blade and let him stand forth.

Emperor Shaddam: If Feyd wishes, he can meet you with my blade in his hand.

Feyd-Rautha: I wish it!

Gurney Halleck: This is a Harkonnen animal! Let me. Please, my lord.

Paul: The Emperor's blade.

Feyd-Rautha: You see your death. My blade will finish you.

Paul Atreides: [voiceover] I will bend like a reed in the wind.

Paul Atreides: We Fremen have a saying: God created Arrakis to train the faithful. One cannot go against the word of God.

Alia Atreides: [as rain begins falling on Arrakis] And how can this be? For he is the Kwisatz Haderach!

Taglines

A world beyond your experience, beyond your imagination.
A place beyond your dreams. A movie beyond your imagination.

External links

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