A journalistic law

… it’s a journalistic law, you see, that heroes can never do anything ordinary; when Flashy, the Hector of Afghanistan, beats a reluctant retreat, there must be an army howling at his heels, or the public cancel their subscription.



Flashman and the Mountain of Light, pp.335-36, Fontana Paperback edition, 1991.



Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, journalism.

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.