孩童时期，他就痴迷于亚瑟王的宫廷故事和骑士准则，梦想着过上英雄的生活。然而，在战争的现实中，劳伦斯亲眼目睹了人们被炸成碎片（通常是他亲手造成的），留下伤员等死，并下令杀死囚犯。正如他之前或之后任何有思想的人一样，劳伦斯在战场上发现的是，虽然英雄主义的时刻肯定会发生，但战争的累积经验，日复一日的残酷，与过英雄生活的概念完全相反。
(As a boy, he had been obsessed with the tales of King Arthur's court and the chivalric code, had dreamed of leading a heroic life. In the reality of war, however, Lawrence had seen men blown to bits, often by his own handiwork, had left wounded behind to die, and had ordered prisoners to be killed. Just as any thoughtful person before or after him, what Lawrence had discovered on the battlefield was that while moments of heroism might certainly occur, the cumulative experience of war, its day-in, day-out brutalization, was utterly antithetical to the notion of leading a heroic life.)
