8 Quotes & Sayings By T E Lawrence

T. E. Lawrence was a British soldier, scholar, writer, and military leader. As a young man, he studied at the University of Oxford Read more

He is widely known for his involvement in World War I, where he used guerrilla warfare tactics to defeat his enemies in four British campaigns in the Sinai and Palestine. Lawrence is also known for his role in the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire during World War I, where he served as an advisor to Emir Faisal. He was knighted by King George VI for his efforts in 1917.

Lawrence was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1938 "for his work for peace and democracy in the world."

1
There could be no honor in a sure success but much might be wrested from a sure defeat. T. E. Lawrence
2
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 on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible. T. E. Lawrence
3
Do not try to do too much with your own hands. Better the Arabs do it tolerably than you do it perfectly. It is their war, and you are to help them, not to win it for them. T. E. Lawrence
4
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
5
Arab civilizations had been of an abstract nature, moral and intellectual rather than applied; and their lack of public spirit made their excellent private qualities futile. They were fortunate in their epoch: Europe had fallen barbarous; and the memory of Greek and Latin learning was fading from men's minds. T. E. Lawrence
6
The foreigners come out here always to teach, whereas they had much better learn, for, in everything but wits and knowledge, the Arab is generally the better man of the two. T. E. Lawrence
7
It seemed that rebellion must have an unassailable base, something guarded not merely from attack, but from the fear of it: such a base as we had in the Red Sea Parts, the desert, or in the minds of the men we converted to our creed. T. E. Lawrence