Empires do not suffer emptiness of purpose at the time of their creation. It is when they have become established that aims are lost and replaced by vague ritual.
FRANK HERBERT, Dune Messiah
Funerals are the rituals we create to help us face the reality of death, to give us a way of expressing our response to that reality with other persons, and to protect us from the full impact of the meaning of death for ourselves. Some funerals fulfill these functions beautifully. Others fail.
ALLA BOZARTH CAMPBELL, Life Is Goodbye, Life is Hello
Ceremonies cemented the impression that Humanity, not Chaos, reigned over the universe.
BRIAN HERBERT & KEVIN J. ANDERSON, Dune: House Atreides
