Quotes by T. E. Lawrence

About T. E. Lawrence:

Thomas Edward Lawrence was a British archaeologist, military officer, and diplomat. He was renowned for his liaison role during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign, and the Arab Revolt against Ottoman Turkish rule of 1916–18. The breadth and variety of his activities and associations, and his ability to describe them vividly in writing, earned him international fame as Lawrence of Arabia—a title used for the 1962 film based on his First World War activities.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

T. E. Lawrence

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

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

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 po...

T. E. Lawrence

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

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

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

Author Bio

  • NameT. E. Lawrence
  • DescriptionBritish Army officer, archeologist, writer
  • AliasesThomas Edward Lawrence; Lawrence of Arabia
  • BornAugust 16, 1888
  • DiedMay 19, 1935
  • CountryUnited Kingdom
  • ProfessionAnthropologist; Archaeologist; Author; Autobiographer
  • WorksSeven Pillars Of Wisdom
  • AwardsKnight Of The Legion Of Honour; Croix De Guerre 1914–1918; Companion Of The Order Of The Bath; Distinguished Service Order