All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake up in the day to find it was vanity, but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.

This line is from T. E. Lawrence’s autobiographical war narrative *Seven Pillars of Wisdom*, written after his experiences as a British liaison and strategist in the Arab Revolt (1916–1918) during World War I. Lawrence composed and revised the work in the early 1920s, reflecting on the mixture of idealism, ambition, and political reality that shaped the revolt and its aftermath. The passage appears in the book’s introductory material, where Lawrence frames his story as one driven by visions of national liberation and personal purpose—visions that could inspire decisive action but also lead to perilous overreach when confronted with the limits of power and circumstance.

Lawrence contrasts passive, private dreaming with active, purposeful imagination. Night dreams dissipate on waking; they are involuntary and often inconsequential. “Dreamers of the day,” however, consciously hold an idea and pursue it in the waking world. Calling them “dangerous” acknowledges both their potency and their risk: such people can reshape events, mobilize others, and force possibilities into being, but they can also destabilize societies or themselves through obsession and hubris. In the context of Lawrence’s wartime experience, the quote captures how political and military change often begins as a vision, then becomes real through will, strategy, and action—at a cost.

1) "All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible."
2) "All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night… wake up in the day to find it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible."