# Quote — Wilfred Thesiger, Arabian Sands

> In the desert I had found a freedom unattainable in civilization; a life unhampered by possessions, since everything that was not a necessity was an encumbrance.  I had found, too, a comradeship inherent in the circumstances, and the belief that tranquillity was to be found there.  I had learnt the satisfaction which comes from hardship and the pleasure which derives from abstinence: the contentment of a full belly; the richness of meat; the taste of clean water; the ecstasy of surrender when the craving for sleep becomes a torment; the warmth of a fire in the chill of dawn.

- Author: [Wilfred Thesiger](https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilfred-thesiger.md)
- Book: [Arabian Sands](https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilfred-thesiger/arabian-sands.md)
- Page: 22
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wilfred_Thesiger#Arabian_Sands_(1959)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilfred-thesiger/arabian-sands/in-the-desert

## More from this book

> Strike a Bedu and he will kill you either then or later.  It is easy for strangers to give offence without meaning to do so.  I once put my hand on the back of bin Kabina’s neck and he turned on me and asked furiously if I took him for a slave.  I had no idea that I had done anything wrong.

p. 148 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilfred-thesiger/arabian-sands/strike-a-bedu.md)

> In the deserts, however arid, I have never felt homesick for green fields and woods in spring, but now that I was in England I longed with an ache that was almost physical to be back in Arabia.

p. 187 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilfred-thesiger/arabian-sands/in-the-deserts.md)

> Now I had crossed it [the Empty Quarter].  To others my journey would have little importance.  It would produce nothing except a rather inaccurate map which no one was ever likely to use.  It was a personal experience, and the reward had been a drink of clean, nearly tasteless water.  I was content with that.

p. 138 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/wilfred-thesiger/arabian-sands/now-i-had.md)