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.

If you wear Arab things, wear the best. Clothes are significant among the tribes, and you must wear the appropriate, and appear at ease in them. Dress like a Sherif, if they agree to it.

Immorality, I know. Immortality, I cannot judge.

I wrote my will across the sky, in stars

If I could talk it like Dahoum, you would never be tired of listening to me.

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

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.