“By them one saw vividly how great it was to be their kin, and English. And we were casting them by thousands into the fire to the worst of deaths, not to win the war but that the corn and rice and oil of Mesopotamia might be ours.”

—  T. E. Lawrence, book Seven Pillars of Wisdom

Introductory Chapter.
Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1922)
Context: I am afraid that I hope so. We pay for these things too much in honour and in innocent lives. I went up the Tigris with one hundred Devon Territorials, young, clean, delightful fellows, full of the power of happiness and of making women and children glad. By them one saw vividly how great it was to be their kin, and English. And we were casting them by thousands into the fire to the worst of deaths, not to win the war but that the corn and rice and oil of Mesopotamia might be ours. The only need was to defeat our enemies (Turkey among them), and this was at last done in the wisdom of Allenby with less than four hundred killed, by turning to our uses the hands of the oppressed in Turkey. I am proudest of my thirty fights in that I did not have any of our own blood shed. All our subject provinces to me were not worth one dead Englishman.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "By them one saw vividly how great it was to be their kin, and English. And we were casting them by thousands into the f…" by T. E. Lawrence?
T. E. Lawrence photo
T. E. Lawrence33
British archaeologist, military officer, and diplomat 1888–1935

Related quotes

Francis Escudero photo

“Fourth, we must be self sufficient in producing our basic food staples such as rice and corn and fish.”

Francis Escudero (1969) Filipino politician

2009, Speech: The Socio-Economic Peace Program of Senator Francis Escudero

Martin Firrell photo

“Not power not cruelty not death not winning not fighting not money not oil not war not sex not tyranny: all tyrants fall.”

Martin Firrell (1963) British artist and activist

"The Question Mark Inside" (2008)

Stephen Harper photo

“We support the war effort and believe we should be supporting our troops and our allies and be there with them doing everything necessary to win”

Stephen Harper (1959) 22nd Prime Minister of Canada

Montreal Gazette, April 2, 2003: On the Iraq war.
2003

Jorge Rafael Videla photo

“Let's say there were 7,000 or 8,000 people who had to die to win the war against subversion… We couldn't execute them by firing squad. Neither could we take them to court… For that reason, so as not to provoke protests inside and outside the country, the decision was reached that these people should be disappeared.”

Jorge Rafael Videla (1925–2013) Argentinian President

As quoted in anon (May 18, 2013) "Argentine 'Dirty War' leader Jorge Rafael Videla dies". ABC News.

Roald Amundsen photo

“Glad as we were to leave it behind, I cannot deny that it was with a certain feeling of melancholy that we saw it vanish. We had grown so fond of our beacons, and whenever we met them we greeted them as old friends. Many and great were the services these silent watchers did us on our long and lonely way.”

Roald Amundsen (1872–1928) Norwegian polar researcher, who was the first to reach the South Pole

On January 21, 1912, upon leaving behind the last navigation beacon at 80° 23' S
Sydpolen (The South Pole) (1912)

Warren Farrell photo

“To win wars, we had to train our sons to be disposable. We honored boys if they died so we could live. We called them heroes.”

Warren Farrell (1943) author, spokesperson, expert witness, political candidate

Source: The Boy Crisis (2018), pp. 36

Mitsumasa Yonai photo

“We might win the first battle for Japan, but we won't win the second. The war is lost to us. Therefore we must forget about 'face,' we must surrender as quickly as we can, and we must begin to consider at once how best to preserve our country.”

Mitsumasa Yonai (1880–1948) Prime Minister of Japan

Quoted in Henry Hitch Adams, Years to victory (1973), p. 448.

Philip James Bailey photo

“Men might be better if we better deemed
Of them. The worst way to improve the world
Is to condemn it.”

Philip James Bailey Festus

Scene IV, A Mountain; Sunrise. Compare: "The surest plan to make a man / Is to think him so", J. R. Lowell, Biglow Papers, II, ii. St. 9
Festus (1839)

Swami Vivekananda photo

“No one ever landed on English soil with more hatred in his heart for a race than I did for the English, and, on this platform, are present English friends who can bear witness to the fact, but the more I lived among them, saw how the machine is working, the English national life, mixed with them, found where the heart-beat of the nation was, the more I loved them. There is none among you here present, my brothers, who loves the English people more than I do. You have to see what is going on there, and you have to mix with them. As the philosophy, our national philosophy of the Vedanta, has summarised all misfortune, all misery from that one cause, ignorance, herein also we must understand that the difficulties that arise between us and the English people are mostly due to that ignorance; we do not know them, they do not know us.”

Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902) Indian Hindu monk and phylosopher

Source: Spoken on his return to India from England, as recorded in From Colombo to Almora (1904), p. 221

George S. Patton photo

“Now in war we are confronted with conditions which are strange
If we accept them we will never win.”

George S. Patton (1885–1945) United States Army general

Stanza 1 of "Absolute War" a poem composed by Patton in July 1944, during Operation Cobra as quoted in The Patton Papers 1940-1945 (1996) edited by Martin Blumenson p. 492
Context: Now in war we are confronted with conditions which are strange
If we accept them we will never win.
Since being realistic, as in mundane combats fistic
We will get a bloody nose and that's a sin.

Related topics