Who really said it
Frank Herbert wrote this in Dune; the Michelangelo credit is unsupported.
Last verified 9 Nov 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?
For presentations
Disputed credit — copy with the correction
“What do you despise? By this you are truly known” — Frank Herbert, Dune (1965); not Michelangelo
The slide-ready mistake: crediting this to Michelangelo. Use the credit shown above instead.
Can you use it?
Still under copyright (rights held by Frank Herbert and/or the publisher or estate). A short, credited quote is generally fine for talks, teaching, and internal decks; for commercial, published, or large-scale reuse, get permission.
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In context
Evoking the world of Frank Herbert — American novelist. Theme: "What do you despise? By this you are truly known". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.
Minimalist
Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "What do you despise? By this you are truly known". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.
Provenance
What do you despise? By this you are truly known.
Read the attribution evidenceHow we verified this
The identified twentieth-century work remains in copyright; only a short excerpt is used for identification and criticism.
Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.
Fact-check
Frank Herbert wrote this in Dune; the Michelangelo credit is unsupported.
Wikiquote identifies Dune (1965) and its fictional Manual of Muad’Dib epigraph, while its Michelangelo page corrects the false credit. This uses the specialist transcription, not an inspected first-edition scan. Evidence ↗
Context
Dune presents this sentence as an epigraph from a fictional manual, making it sound like inherited wisdom from another age. That literary framing helps explain its portability, but the documented writer is Frank Herbert; the Michelangelo attribution has no supporting Renaissance source.
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More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.
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Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.
The Dune transcription includes this exact sentence and fictional epigraph credit.
The Michelangelo entry assigns this sentence to Herbert rather than the artist.
Author profile and references for the novelist.
Publisher identifies Herbert as author of Dune; this is book metadata, not quotation evidence.
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The author
For writers & researchers
Dune (1965).
Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘What do you despise? By this you are truly known’?” Last verified 9 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/what-do-you-despise-by-this-you-are-truly-known/