Death, destruction and national catastrophe

Of course, this was supposedly in the national character; it was proverbial that the Englishman displayed emotion only when faced by some truly earth-shaking crisis, like a cricket match, or the ill-treatment of an animal, or a rise in the price of beer; for such trivia as death, destruction and national catastrophe he was supposed to reserve an indifference that bordered on insanity.


Mr American, pp.510-11, Pan Books, paperback edition 1982.


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Flower of the 11th Hussars

Picture if you will that score of primitives with their painted faces and head-bands and ragged kilts and boots, fairly bristling with lances and hatchets, and in their midst the tall figure of the English gentlemen, flower of the 11th Hussars, with a white stripe across his face, his hair rank to his shoulders, his buckskins stinking to rival the Fleet Ditch, lance in fist and knife on hip—you’d never think he played at Lord’s or chatted with the Queen or been rebuked by Dr Arnold for dirty finger-nails (well, yes, you might) or been congratulated by my Lord Cardigan on his brilliant turnout.

Flashman and the Redskins, pp.181-2, Pan Books edition, 1983.

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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.

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Free man or fool.

We like to think we are above that sort of thing, of course; the Englishman, however miserably off he is, supposes that he’s a free man, poor fool, and pities the unhappy foreigners raging against their rullers. And his rulers, of course, trade on that feeling, and keep him underfoot while assuring him that Britons never shall be slaves.

Royal Flash, p.252, Pan edition, 8th printing, 1978.

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Flashman, Flashman quotes,England, English.

Die like Englishmen

‘Well,’ says he, ‘we can make a bloody good fight of it. We can die like Englishmen, ’stead of like dogs.
‘What difference does it make whether you die like an Englishman or like a bloody Eskimo?’ says I, and he just stared at me and then went on chafing my arms.

Flashman, p.219, Pan edition, 12th printing, 1979.

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Flashman, Flashman quotes.

Grim work

It was grim work, I may tell you, for she was a sour tyrant of a woman and looked on me as she looked on all soldiers, Englishmen and men under fifty years of age - as frivolous, Godless, feckless and unworthy.




Flashman, p. 54, Pan edition, 12th printing, 1979.

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Flashman, Englishmen, godless, unworthy, soldiers