Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Donald Wolfit: General Archibald Murray

Photos 

Quotes 

• General Murray : I can't make out whether you're bloody bad-mannered or just half-witted.

  T.E. Lawrence : I have the same problem, sir.

• General Murray : [on the Arab Revolt]  It's a storm in a tea cup, Mr. Dryden - a sideshow. If you want my own opinion, this whole theater of operations is a sideshow! The real war's not being fought against the Turks, but the Germans. And not here, but on the Western front in the trenches! Your Bedouin Army - or whatever it calls itself - would be a sideshow OF a sideshow!

  Mr. Dryden : Big things have small beginnings, sir.

  General Murray : Does the Arab Bureau want a "big thing" in Arabia? If we get them to rise against the Turks, does the Bureau think they'll sit down quietly under us when this war's over?

  Mr. Dryden : The Arab Bureau thinks the job of the moment, sir, is to win the war.

  General Murray : Don't tell me my duty, Mr. Dryden!

• T.E. Lawrence : It's my manner, sir.

  General Murray : Your manner?

  T.E. Lawrence : Yes. It looks insubordinate, but it isn't really.

  General Murray : Shut up... and get out!

• General Murray : I may as well tell you, it's my considered opinion and that of my staff that any time spent on the Bedouin will be time wasted.They're a nation of sheep-stealers.

  Mr. Dryden : They did attack Medina.

  General Murray : And the Turks made mincemeat of them.

  Mr. Dryden : We don't know that.

  General Murray : We know that they didn't take it. A storm in a teacup, a sideshow. If you want my own opinion, this whole theatre of operations is a sideshow. The real war's being fought against Germans, not Turks. And not here, but on the Western front in the trenches. Your Bedouin Army, or whatever it calls itself would be a sideshow of a sideshow.

  Mr. Dryden : Big things have small beginnings, sir.

  General Murray : Does the Arab Bureau want a "big thing" in Arabia? If we get them to rise against the Turks, does the Bureau think they'll sit down quietly under us when this war's over?

  Mr. Dryden : The Arab Bureau thinks the job of the moment, sir, is to win the war.

  General Murray : Don't tell me my duty, Mr. Dryden!