T. E. Lawrence Quotes

Quotes about:

• 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

  Inspirational, Success, Dream

  The Seven Pillars of Wisdom suppressed introductory chapter (1926).

  174 Copy quote

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

  T. E. Lawrence

  Needs, Humour

  T. E. Lawrence (2015). “The Collected Works of Lawrence of Arabia (Unabridged): Seven Pillars of Wisdom + The Mint + The Evolution of a Revolt + Complete Letters (Including Translations of The Odyssey and The Forest Giant)”, p.1260, e-artnow

  41 Copy quote

• 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

  Mad, Done, Quiet

  T. E. Lawrence (2015). “The Collected Works of Lawrence of Arabia (Unabridged): Seven Pillars of Wisdom + The Mint + The Evolution of a Revolt + Complete Letters (Including Translations of The Odyssey and The Forest Giant)”, p.1261, e-artnow

  12 Copy quote

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

  T. E. Lawrence

  Ocean, Arabia, Desert

  "Fictional character: T. E. Lawrence". "Lawrence of Arabia", www.imdb.com. 1962.

  27 Copy quote

• 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

  War, Winning, Hands

  T. E. Lawrence (2015). “Lawrence of Arabia: The Man Behind the Myth (Complete Autobiographical Works, Memoirs & Letters): Seven Pillars of Wisdom (Memoirs of the Arab Revolt) + The Evolution of a Revolt + The Mint (Memoirs of the secret service in Royal Air Force) + Collected Letters (1915-1935)”, p.954, e-artnow

  39 Copy quote

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

  T. E. Lawrence

  Dream, Eye, Dreams Come True

  23 Copy quote

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

  T. E. Lawrence

  Effort, Amount

  T. E. Lawrence (2015). “The Collected Works of Lawrence of Arabia (Unabridged): Seven Pillars of Wisdom + The Mint + The Evolution of a Revolt + Complete Letters (Including Translations of The Odyssey and The Forest Giant)”, p.1263, e-artnow

  46 Copy quote

• As long as the Arabs fight tribe against tribe, so long will they be a little people, a silly people, greedy, barbarous and cruel.

  T. E. Lawrence

  Silly, Fighting, Long

  "Fictional character: T.E. Lawrence". "Lawrence of Arabia", www.imdb.com. 1962.

  11 Copy quote

• 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

  Sleep, Autumn, Artist

  Letter to Eric Kennington, May 06, 1935.

  34 Copy quote

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

  T. E. Lawrence

  Wise, Tired, Old And Wise

  T. E. Lawrence (2015). “Lawrence of Arabia: The Man Behind the Myth (Complete Autobiographical Works, Memoirs & Letters): Seven Pillars of Wisdom (Memoirs of the Arab Revolt) + The Evolution of a Revolt + The Mint (Memoirs of the secret service in Royal Air Force) + Collected Letters (1915-1935)”, p.513, e-artnow

  34 Copy quote

• The dreamers of the day are dangerous... for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible.

  T. E. Lawrence

  Dream, Eye, Vision

  The Seven Pillars of Wisdom suppressed introductory chapter (1926).

  40 Copy quote

• 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

  Book, Arabia, Tactics

  T. E. Lawrence (2015). “Lawrence of Arabia: The Man Behind the Myth (Complete Autobiographical Works, Memoirs & Letters): Seven Pillars of Wisdom (Memoirs of the Arab Revolt) + The Evolution of a Revolt + The Mint (Memoirs of the secret service in Royal Air Force) + Collected Letters (1915-1935)”, p.552, e-artnow

  40 Copy quote

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

  T. E. Lawrence

  Contentment, Literature, Misery

  33 Copy quote

• Half a calamity is better than a whole one.

  T. E. Lawrence

  Half, Calamity, Whole

  T. E. Lawrence (2015). “Lawrence of Arabia: The Man Behind the Myth (Complete Autobiographical Works, Memoirs & Letters): Seven Pillars of Wisdom (Memoirs of the Arab Revolt) + The Evolution of a Revolt + The Mint (Memoirs of the secret service in Royal Air Force) + Collected Letters (1915-1935)”, p.1473, e-artnow

  11 Copy quote

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

  T. E. Lawrence

  Desert, Creeds

  T. E. Lawrence (2015). “Seven Pillars of Wisdom & The Evolution of a Revolt (Complete Edition with Original Illustrations and Maps): Lawrence of Arabia's Account and Memoirs of the Arab Revolt and Guerrilla Warfare during World War One”, p.24, e-artnow

  27 Copy quote

• Yet when we achieved, and the new world dawned, the old men came out again and took our victory to remake it in the likeness of the former world they knew. Youth could win, but had not learned to keep: and was pitiably weak against age. We stammered that we had worked for a new heaven and a new earth, and they thanked us kindly and made their peace.

  T. E. Lawrence

  War, Winning, Men

  T. E. Lawrence (2015). “The Collected Works of Lawrence of Arabia (Unabridged): Seven Pillars of Wisdom + The Mint + The Evolution of a Revolt + Complete Letters (Including Translations of The Odyssey and The Forest Giant)”, p.11, e-artnow

  37 Copy quote

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

  T. E. Lawrence

  Lying

  6 Copy quote

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

  T. E. Lawrence

  Arabia, Weapons, Modern

  T. E. Lawrence (2015). “The Collected Works of Lawrence of Arabia (Unabridged): Seven Pillars of Wisdom + The Mint + The Evolution of a Revolt + Complete Letters (Including Translations of The Odyssey and The Forest Giant)”, p.766, e-artnow

  21 Copy quote

• The greatest commander is he whose intuitions most nearly happen.

  T. E. Lawrence

  Intuition, Happens, Commanders

  T. E. Lawrence (2015). “Lawrence of Arabia: The Man Behind the Myth (Complete Autobiographical Works, Memoirs & Letters): Seven Pillars of Wisdom (Memoirs of the Arab Revolt) + The Evolution of a Revolt + The Mint (Memoirs of the secret service in Royal Air Force) + Collected Letters (1915-1935)”, p.552, e-artnow

  17 Copy quote

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

  T. E. Lawrence

  War, Knives, Soup

  T. E. Lawrence (2015). “Seven Pillars of Wisdom & The Evolution of a Revolt (Complete Edition with Original Illustrations and Maps): Lawrence of Arabia's Account and Memoirs of the Arab Revolt and Guerrilla Warfare during World War One”, p.552, e-artnow

  12 Copy quote

• 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

  Stars, Men, Hands

  The Seven Pillars of Wisdom dedication, l. 1 (1926)

  15 Copy quote

• Mankind has had ten-thousand years of experience at fighting and if we must fight, we have no excuse for not fighting well.

  T. E. Lawrence

  Fighting, Years, No Excuses

  8 Copy quote

• 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

  Fate, Men, Hands

  The Mint (1955) pt. 1, ch. 4

  11 Copy quote

• 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

  People, Ordinary, Artistic

  "T.E. Lawrence: The Selected Letters", book edited By Malcolm Brown. "Books: The Hero Our Century Deserved" by Paul Gray, content.time.com. May 15, 1989.

  18 Copy quote

• The literature of disease is more interesting to me than all the healthy books.

  T. E. Lawrence

  Book, Interesting, Healthy

  13 Copy quote

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