Achievements
Described as being “of powerful physique, of blunt speech and great strength of character” Holmes possessed qualities of charm and generosity that won him the admiration of Arabs across the region, and he was able to invoke dreams of wealth among the many improverished shiekhs of the Arabian peninsula. Although not a trained petroleum geologist, he relied on a knowledge of geology gained as a mining engineer and a certain intuition (what Holmes described as his “nose for oil”) to locate areas where oil might be found. In the event, at a time when established opinion was generally pessimistic about finding oil in Arabia, Holmes’ predictions were remarkably accurate. It is for these reasons that he earned from Arabs the sobriquet “Abu Naft”, or the Father of Oil.
Read more about this topic: Frank Holmes (geologist)
Famous quotes containing the word achievements:
“Our achievements speak for themselves. What we have to keep track of are our failures, discouragements, and doubts. We tend to forget the past difficulties, the many false starts, and the painful groping. We see our past achievements as the end result of a clean forward thrust, and our present difficulties as signs of decline and decay.”
—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)
“There are some achievements which are never done in the presence of those who hear of them. Catching salmon is one, and working all night is another.”
—Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)
“When science, art, literature, and philosophy are simply the manifestation of personality, they are on a level where glorious and dazzling achievements are possible, which can make a man’s name live for thousands of years. But above this level, far above, separated by an abyss, is the level where the highest things are achieved. These things are essentially anonymous.”
—Simone Weil (1909–1943)