Empire of Sand Quotes

“There he accepted the advice of his old tutor, A.D. Lindsay, now Master, that he should have all his teeth taken out, as this was the cure for blindness. He developed blood poisoning and died at the age of 43. Academic philosophers should not give medical advice.”
― Walter Reid, Empire of Sand: How Britain Made the Middle East

“The truth is that we are the only race on earth that can produce men capable of getting inside the skin of remote peoples. Perhaps the Scots are better than the English, but we are all a thousand per cent better than anyone else’. An unrealistic conceit.”
― Walter Reid, Empire of Sand: How Britain Made the Middle East

“[W]hen people talk of our muddling through it throws me into a passion. Muddle through! why yes, so we do – wading through blood and tears that need never have been shed.2”
― Walter Reid, Empire of Sand: How Britain Made the Middle East