Sherlock Holmes versus Harry Flashman

 . . . “besides, this is a nautical, not a military man; he is not English, but either American or German — probably the latter, since he has certainly studied at a second-rate German university, but undoubtedly he has been to America quite lately. He is known to the police, is currently working as a ship’s steward, or some equally menial capacity at sea — for I observe that he has declined even from his modest beginnings — and will, unless I am greatly mistaken, be in Hamburg by the beginning of next week — provided he wakes up in time. More than that,” says the know-all ignoramus, “I cannot tell you from a superficial examination. Except, of course, for the obvious fact that he found his way here via Piccadilly Circus.”


Flashman and the Tiger, p.310, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.


Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, observe.

A pint and a pie

. . . it wasn't a sufeit of debauchery and the high life, although there does come a time when you find yourself longing for a pint and a pie and a decent night’s sleep. And it was partly that I was beginning to miss English voices and English rain and all those things that make the old country so different, thank God, from the Continent.


Flashman and the Tiger, p.191, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.


Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, pint.

Flashman on toast

“ ‘It’s an English school for you, my son,’ he told me. ‘Hellish places, by all accounts, rations a Siberian moujik wouldn’t touch, and less civilised behaviour than you’d meet in the Congo, but I’m told there’s no education like it − a lifetime’s trainin’ in knavery packed into six years. No wonder they rule half the world. Why, if I’d been to Eton or Harrow, I’d have had Flashman on toast!’ ”


Flashman and the Tiger, p.77, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.


Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, school.

The English view

“What did you think of him . . . from an English point of view, I mean?”
… “From an English point of view? Well, they’d not take him in Whites . . . not sure about Reform, though.”


Flashman and the Angel of the Lord, p.342, Harper Collins, 1995.



Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, English.

Hand feeding Americans

By and large I’m partial to Americans. They make a great affectation of disliking the English and asserting their equality with us, but I’ve discovered that underneath they dearly love a lord, and if you’re civil and cool and don’t play it with too high a hand you can impose on them quite easily. I’m not a lord, of course, but I’ve got the airs when I want ’em, and know how to use them in moderation. That’s the secret, a nice blending of the plain, polite gentleman with just a hint of Norman blood, and they’ll eat out of your hand and boast to their friends in Philadelphia that they know a man who’s on terms with Queen Victoria and yet, by gosh, is as nice a fellow as they’ve ever struck.

Flash For Freedom!, p.117, Pan edition, 8th printing, 1980.

Tags:
Flashman, Flashman quotes,Americans.

Start the revolution without me

Mark you, our populace may be wiser than it knows, for so far as I can see revolutions never benefited the ordinary folk one bit; they have to work just as hard and starve just as thin as ever. All the good they may get from a rebellion is perhaps a bit of loot and rape at the time – and our English peasantry doesn’t seem to go in for that sort of thing at home, possibly because they’re mostly married men with responsibilities.

Royal Flash, p.245, Pan edition, 8th printing, 1978.

Tags:
Flashman, Flashman quotes,revolution.

No, hussar

‘Dragoon?’ says he.
‘No, hussar.’
‘English light cavalry mounts must be infernally strong, then,’ says he, coolly.

Royal Flash, p.75, Pan edition, 8th printing, 1978.

Tags:
Flashman, Flashman quotes,dragoon, hussar.

Rain-sodden country

…even now I see the scarlet coats in the fading light, and smell the rain-sodden country, and hear the yelps of the fellows as they cheered each other on and laughed and cursed. God, it was good to be young and English then!

Royal Flash, pp.32 - 33, Pan edition, 8th printing, 1978.

Tags:
Flashman, Flashman quotes.