Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Jack Hawkins: General Edmund Allenby

Quotes 

• T.E. Lawrence : I killed two people. One was... yesterday? He was just a boy and I led him into quicksand. The other was... well, before Aqaba. I had to execute him with my pistol, and there was something about it that I didn't like.

  General Allenby : That's to be expected.

  T.E. Lawrence : No, something else.

  General Allenby : Well, then let it be a lesson.

  T.E. Lawrence : No... something else.

  General Allenby : What then?

  T.E. Lawrence : I enjoyed it.

• Colonel Brighton : Look, sir, we can't just do nothing.

  General Allenby : Why not? It's usually best.

• General Allenby : I thought I was a hard man, sir.

  Prince Feisal : You are merely a general. I must be a king.

• General Allenby : You acted without orders, you know.

  T.E. Lawrence : Shouldn't officers use their initiative at all times?

  General Allenby : Not really. It's awfully dangerous.

• General Allenby : [leafing through Lawrence's dossier]  Undisciplined... unpunctual... untidy. Several languages. Knowledge of music... literature... knowledge of... knowledge of... you're an interesting man there's no doubt about it.

• Prince Feisal : Well, General, I will leave you. Major Lawrence doubtless has reports to make upon my people and their weakness, and the need to keep them weak in the British interest... and the French interest too, of course. We must not forget the French now...

  General Allenby : [indignantly]  I've told you, sir, no such treaty exists.

  Prince Feisal : Yes, General, you have lied most bravely, but not convincingly. I know this treaty does exist.

  T.E. Lawrence : Treaty, sir?

  Prince Feisal : He does it better than you, General. But then, of course, he is almost an Arab.

• Prince Feisal : My friend Lawrence, if I may call him that. "My friend Lawrence". How many men will claim the right to use that phrase? How proudly! He longs for the greenness of his native land. He pines for the Gothic cottages of Surrey, is it not? Already in imagination, he catches trout and engages in all the activities of the English gentleman.

  General Allenby : That's me you're describing, sir, not Colonel Lawrence.

• General Allenby : I've got orders to obey, thank God. Not like that poor devil. He's riding the whirlwind.

  Mr. Dryden : Let's hope we're not.

• General Allenby : I believe your name will be a household word when you'll have to go to the War Museum to find who Allenby was. You're the most extraordinary man I've ever met!

  T.E. Lawrence : Leave me alone!

  General Allenby : What?

  T.E. Lawrence : Leave me alone!

  General Allenby : Well, that's a feeble thing to say.

  T.E. Lawrence : I know I'm not ordinary.

  General Allenby : That's not what I'm saying...

  T.E. Lawrence : All right! I'm extraordinary! What of it?

• General Allenby : What about your Arab friends? What about them?

  T.E. Lawrence : I have no Arab friends. I don't want Arab friends !

  General Allenby : What in Hell do you want, Lawrence?

  T.E. Lawrence : I told you! I just want my ration of common humanity.

  Mr. Dryden : Lawrence!

  [Lawrence turns away from Allenby to face Dryden] 

  Mr. Dryden : Nothing. Sorry I interrupted, Sir.

  General Allenby : [subdued]  Quite all right. Thank you, Mr Dryden. Look, why don't we, er... There's blood on your back. Do you want a Doctor ?

• Mr. Dryden : Well. It seems we're to have a British waterworks with an Arab flag on it. Do you think it was worth it?

  General Allenby : Not my business. Thank God I'm a soldier.

  Mr. Dryden : Yes, sir. So you keep saying.

• General Allenby : I fight like Clausewitz, then you fight like Saxe!

  T.E. Lawrence : We should do very well, then, shouldn't we?

• General Allenby : I'm promoting you Major.

  T.E. Lawrence : I don't think that's a very good idea.

• Prince Feisal : Ah yes, then Lawrence is a sword with two edges... we are equally glad to be rid of him are we not?

  General Allenby : I thought I was a hard man, sir.

  Prince Feisal : You are merely a General... I must be a king.

• General Allenby : [the British army staff is having a field briefing]  Very well, gentlemen. The cavalry's gone through Mazril and Deraa. Very good, by the way, very good indeed. Now your turn.

  Artilery general, field briefing : Well, sir, if the enemy's retreating in any kind of order - which we'd better assume...

  General Allenby : Certainly.

  Artilery general, field briefing : ...Then they can't be further than this Mallud place. In which case I can have them within range by... 0900 hours tomorrow?

  General Allenby : Splendid! Phillip.

  Infantry general, field briefing : Well, these

  [referring to British soldiers marching in the background] 

  Infantry general, field briefing : are the last of the infantry supports coming up now, sir. But Mallud... could have the fusilliers there by... Wednesday, sir?

  General Allenby : That'll do for now. The guns are what matter! Any questions?

  Cavalry general, field briefing : This Arab army on the right, sir - what's it consist of?

  Colonel Brighton : Irregular cavalry, sir. About two thousand.

  Cavalry general, field briefing : Where are they now?

  Colonel Brighton : Can only know that by being with them, sir.

  General Allenby : Then get with them, Harry! I want to know.

  Colonel Brighton : Yes, sir.

  General Allenby : Pound them, Charley -

  [strikes blackboard with his fist] 

  General Allenby : POUND THEM!

• General Allenby : Not many people have a destiny Lawrence. It's a terrible thing for a man to funk it if he has.

  T.E. Lawrence : You're speaking from experience?

  General Allenby : No.

  T.E. Lawrence : You're guessing then.

• Colonel Brighton : They think he's a kind of prophet.

  General Allenby : They do or he does?