T. E. Lawrence Quotes

All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible. This I did.

T. E. Lawrence (Seven Pillars of Wisdom, 1922)

Nine-tenths of tactics are certain, and taught in books: but the irrational tenth is like the kingfisher flashing across the pool, and that is the test of generals.

T. E. Lawrence (The Evolution of a Revolt, 1920)

This death's livery which walled its bearers from ordinary life was sign that they have sold their wills and bodies to the State: and contracted themselves into a service not the less abject for that its beginning was voluntary.

T. E. Lawrence (The Revolt in the Desert, 1927)

Do not try to do too much with your own hands.

T. E. Lawrence (Twenty-Seven Articles, 1917)

All the revision in the world will not save a bad first draft: for the architecture of the thing comes, or fails to come, in the first conception, and revision only affects the detail and ornament, alas!

T. E. Lawrence (Letter to Bruce Rogers, 1931)

Some of the evil of my tale may have been inherent in our circumstances.

T. E. Lawrence (Seven Pillars of Wisdom, 1922)

The printing press is the greatest weapon in the armoury of the modern commander...

T. E. Lawrence (The Evolution of a Revolt, 1920)

He was old and wise, which meant tired and disappointed...

T. E. Lawrence (Seven Pillars of Wisdom, 1922)

I've been and am absurdly over-estimated. There are no supermen and I'm quite ordinary, and will say so whatever the artistic results. In that point I'm one of the few people who tell the truth about myself.

T. E. Lawrence (Letter)

It seemed that rebellion must have an unassailable base, something guarded not merely from attack, but from the fear of it.

T. E. Lawrence (The Evolution of a Revolt, 1920)

We had been hopelessly labouring to plough waste lands; to make nationality grow in a place full of the certainty of God… Among the tribes our creed could be only like the desert grass – a beautiful swift seeming of spring; which, after a day’s heat, fell dusty.

T. E. Lawrence (Seven Pillars of Wisdom, 1922)

To have news value is to have a tin can tied to one's tail.

T. E. Lawrence (Letter, 1935)

I loved you, so I drew these tides of men into my hands... and wrote my will across the sky in stars.

T. E. Lawrence (Seven Pillars of Wisdom, 1922)