Bellies and loins

      Berkeley Levett, a sound muttonhead in Cumming’s regiment, and presumably as well disposed to his chief as subalterns ever are, given that Guards officers are usually incapable of any feeling outside their bellies and loins.


Flashman and the Tiger, p.227, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.


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The partner of my fate

“But what have I to fear,” cries he, with a great idiot laugh, “when the bravest soldier of the British Army, the partner of my fate, is by my side?”
      A great deal, I could have told him, if Bismarck's bullies were after him; he'd find himself relying on the communications cord.


Flashman and the Tiger, p.41, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.


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Little Bighorn

           I’ll say two other things. If the 7th had had decent carbines, thay might have sickened the Sioux and been able to hole up on the hill, as Reno did. And that was Custer’s fault, too. He should have tested those pieces before he went near the Powder Country—tested ’em until they were red-hot, and he’d have seen them jam. T’other thing—Reno deserved the clean bill he got from the court-martial. I didn’t know him, much, but Napoleon himself couldn’t have done any better. If Custer had done half as well, there’d be a few old troopers still telling stretchers about how they survived the struggle up Greasy Grass hill.

Flashman and the Redskins, p.332, Pan Books edition, 1983.

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Lifetime impersonation

...I’ve been a Danish prince, a Texas slave-dealer, an Arab sheik, a Cheyenne Dog Soldier, and a Yankee navy lieutenant in my time, among other things, and none of ’em was as hard to sustain as my lifetime’s impersonation of a British officer and gentleman.

Flashman in the Great Game, p.115, Pan edition, 4th printing, 1979.

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Flashman, Flashman quotes,British officer, impersonation.

A distasteful talk with Flashman

‘They [officers] don’t know their men, and treat ’em like children or animals, and think of nothing, but drinking and hunting, and – and…’ he reddened to the roots of his enormous beard and looked aside. ‘Some of them consort with… with the worst type of native women.’ He cleared his throat and patted my arm. ‘There, I’m sorry, old fellow; I know it's distasteful to talk of such things, but it’s true, alas.’
     I shook my head and said it was heart-breaking.

Flashman in the Great Game, p.64, Pan edition, 4th printing, 1979.

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Flashman, Flashman quotes,John Nicholson, East India Company.

Conclusive proof

     ‘Sir,’ says I, trying to sound furious, with my legs on the point of giving way, ‘I fail to understand you. I am a British officer and, I hope, a gentleman. . .’
     ‘Oh, I don’t doubt it,’ says he, ‘but even that isn't conclusive proof that you’re a rascal…


Flash For Freedom!, p.132, Pan edition, 8th printing, 1980.



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Flashman, Flashman quotes,British officer, rascal.

A coward and a scoundrel

Some of you will hold up your hands in horror that a Queen’s officer could behave like this, and before his soldiers, too. To which I would reply that I do not claim, as I’ve said already, to be anything but a coward and a scoundrel, and I’ve never play-acted when it seems pointless.


Flashman, p.230, Pan edition, 12th printing, 1979.



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Flashman, Flashman quotes,coward, scoundrel.

Greek heroes

I recognized the handwriting, and my heart gave a skip; when I opened it I got a turn, for it began, ‘To my beloved Hector,’ and I thought, by God she’s cheating on me, and has sent me the wrong letter by mistake. But in the second line was a reference to Achilles, and another to Ajax, so I understood she was just addressing me in terms which she accounted fitting for a martial paladin; she knew no better. It was a common custom at that time, in the more romantic females, to see their soldier husbands and sweethearts as Greek heroes, instead of the whore-mongering, drunken clowns most of them were. However, the Greek heroes were probably no better, so it was not far off the mark.


Flashman, p.170, Pan edition, 12th printing, 1979.



Tags:
Flashman, Flashman quotes,Ajax, Achilles, Hector.