Í velktri útgáfu af Seven Pillars of Wisdom, sögu T.E. Lawrence – Arabíu-Lawrence – af herför hans í eyðimörkinni finn ég þessi orð sem ég var að leita að. Þau fjalla um breytingar og vonbrigðin sem verða þegar þær reynast tálsýn:

„The moral freshness of the world-to-be intoxicated us. We were wrought up in ideas inexpressible and vaporous, but to be fought for. We lived many lives in those whirling campaigns, never sparing ourselves: yet when we achieved and the new world dawned, the old men came out again and took our victory to re-make in the likeness of the former world they knew. Youth could win, but had not learned to keep: and was pitiably weak against age. We stammered that we had worked for a new heaven and a new earth, and they thanked us kindly and made their peace.“