Lessons from Dune

I got caught at lunch without the Churchill biography I’m currently reading, so I had to find something on my iPad to read. I happened to have Dune from a Kindle sale a few months ago, so I thought I’d re-read it again since it’s probably been 10–15 years since I last did so.1

I ran across this in the first few pages:

A world is supported by four things:
the learning of the wise,
the justice of the great,
the prayers of the righteous,
and the valor of the brave.”

That was thought-provoking enough. But then it was closed with this:

But all of these are as nothing without a ruler who knows the art of ruling.