T. E. Lawrence quotes

T. E. Lawrence, popularly known as Lawrence of Arabia, was a British archaeologist, military strategist, and writer. Born on August 16, 1888, he played a prominent role in the Arab Revolt during World War I. Renowned for his exceptional leadership skills and knowledge of the Middle East, Lawrence became a key figure in shaping the region's history. His experiences and insights were poignantly captured in his autobiographical work, "Seven Pillars of Wisdom," which continues to inspire readers worldwide. Discover more about the remarkable life and impactful legacy of T. E. Lawrence in this biography.

The foreigners come out here always to teach, whereas they had much better learn...

- T. E. Lawrence

To make war upon rebellion is messy and slow, like eating soup with a knife.

- T. E. Lawrence

Many men would take the death-sentence without a whimper, to escape the life-sentence which fate carries in her other hand.

- T. E. Lawrence

Your success will be proportioned to the amount of mental effort you devote to it.

- T. E. Lawrence

Cling tight to your sense of humour. You will need it every day.

- T. E. Lawrence

Immorality, I know. Immortality, I cannot judge.

- T. E. Lawrence

The desert is an ocean in which no oar is dipped.

- T. E. Lawrence

Misery, anger, indignation, discomfort-those conditions produce literature. Contentment-never. So there you are.

- T. E. Lawrence

It is difficult to keep quiet when everything is being done wrong, but the less you lose your temper the greater your advantage. Also then you will not go mad yourself.

- T. E. Lawrence

I prefer lies to truth, especially when the lies are about me.

- T. E. Lawrence

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

- T. E. Lawrence

Half a calamity is better than a whole one.

- T. E. Lawrence

Dream your dreams with open eyes and make them come true.

- T. E. Lawrence

Do not try and 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 win it for them.

- T. E. Lawrence

You wonder what I am doing? Well, so do I, in truth. Days seem to dawn, suns to shine, evenings to follow, and then I sleep. What I have done, what I am doing, what I am going to do, puzzle and bewilder me. Have you ever been a leaf and fallen from your tree in autumn and been really puzzled about it? That’s the feeling.

- T. E. Lawrence

Isn't it true that the fault of birth rests somewhat on the child? I believe it's we who led our parents on to bear us, and it's our unborn children who make our flesh itch.

- T. E. Lawrence

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

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

Some of the evil of my tale may have been inherent in our circumstances. For years we lived anyhow with one another in the naked desert, under the indifferent heaven.

- T. E. Lawrence

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 people of England have been led in Mesopotamia into a trap from which it will be hard to escape with dignity and honor.

- T. E. Lawrence

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

- T. E. Lawrence

I've been & am absurdly over-estimated. There are no supermen & I'm quite ordinary, & 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

The Beduin could not look for God within him: he was too sure that he was within God.

- T. E. Lawrence

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

- T. E. Lawrence

This creed of the desert seemed inexpressible in words, and indeed in thought.

- T. E. Lawrence

To me an unnecessary action, or shot, or casualty, was not only waste but sin.

- T. E. Lawrence

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

Men have looked upon the desert as barren land, the free holding of whoever chose; but in fact each hill and valley in it had a man who was its acknowledged owner and would quickly assert the right of his family or clan to it, against aggression.

- T. E. Lawrence