Old General What’s-his-name

      “Good Lord!” he exclaimed. “I believe I know this chap — but no, it can’t be, surely! Only he’s uncommonly like that old general . . . oh, what’s-his-name? You know made such a hash of the Khartoum business, with Gordon . . . yes, and years ago he won a great name in Russia, and the Mutiny — V.C. and knighthood — it’s on the tip of my tongue —”


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


Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, general.

Heavy speculation

One thing I'm sure of: there was twice as much treasure destroyed as carried away, and we officers were too busy bagging our share to do anything about it. I daresay a philosopher would have made heavy speculation about the scene, if he'd had time to spare from filling his pockets.

Flashman in the Great Game, pp.265-6, Pan edition, 4th printing, 1979.

Tags:
Flashman, Flashman quotes, loot.

Spoils of war

It was a great bloody carnival, with everyone making the most of the war: I recall one incident, in a Lucknow courtyard (I believe it may have been the Begum’s palace) in which I saw Highlanders, their gory bayonets laid aside, smashing open chests that were simply stuffed with jewels, and grinning idiot little Goorkhas breaking mirrors for sheer sport and wiping their knives on silks and fabrics worth a fortune – they didn’t know any better. There were Sikh infantry dancing with gold chains and necklaces round their necks, an infantry subaltern staggering under a great enameled pot overflowing with coins, a naval gunner bleeding to death with a huge shimmering bolt of cloth-of-gold clasped in his arms – there were dead and dying men everywhere, our own fellows as well as pandies, and desperate hand-to-hand fighting going on just over the courtyard wall; muskets banging, men shrieking, two Irishmen coming to blows over a white marble statuette smeared with blood, and Billy Russell stamping and damning his luck because he had no rupees on him to buy the treasure which private soldiers were willing to trade away for the price of a bottle of rum.

Flashman in the Great Game, p.264, Pan edition, 4th printing, 1979.

Tags:
Flashman, Flashman quotes, loot.

Gentlemen of the press

I knew it was as good as over when Billy Russell of The Times showed up to join Campbell’s final march on Lucknow – it’s a sure sign of victory when the correspondents gather like vultures.

Flashman in the Great Game, p.263, Pan edition, 4th printing, 1979.

Tags:
Flashman, Flashman quotes.

Where's Flashman?

…it looked very gallant, and has since been commemorated in oils, with camels and niggers* looking on admiringly, and the Chiefs all shaking hands. (I’m there too, like John the Baptist on horseback, with one aimless hand up in the air, which is rot, because at the time I was squatting in the latrine working the dysentery bugs out of my system and wishing I was dead.)

Flashman in the Great Game, p.261, Pan edition, 4th printing, 1979.

*Flashman's use of racial epitahs is a continuing problem for more enlightened, contemporary readers. The inclusion of these passages should not be taken as tacit support of his misanthropic, 19th century view of race relations.

Not that far

‘Well, sir,’ says I, ‘like you I wouldn’t trust the Nana as far as the tuck-shop.’

Flashman in the Great Game, p.219, Pan edition, 4th printing, 1979.

Free of all restraint

It’s the usual way, with civilians suddenly plunged into war and given the chance to kill; for the first time, after years of pushing pens and counting pennies, they’re suddenly free of all restraint, away from wives and families and responsibility, and able to indulge their animal instincts. They go a little crazy after a while, and if you can convince ’em they’re doing the Lord’s work, they soon start enjoying it.

Flashman in the Great Game, p.185, Pan edition, 4th printing, 1979.

Tags:
Flashman, Flashman quotes, civilians.

Terrible women

Terrible women, in their way – the mem-sahibs. But it would have been a different country without ’em – and I’m not sure the Raj would have survived the year ’57, if they hadn’t been there, interfering.

Flashman in the Great Game, p.134, Pan edition, 4th printing, 1979.

Tags:
Flashman, Flashman quotes,mem-sahib, Indian Mutiny.

Mera Jhansi denge nay

‘…and that is why I resist as best I can. As you, and Lord Palmerston would. Tell him,’ says she, and by George, her voice was shaking, but the pretty mouth was set and hard, ‘when you go home, that whatever happens, I will not give up my Jhansi. Mera Jhansi denge nay. I will not give up my Jhansi!’

Flashman in the Great Game, p.97, Pan edition, 4th printing, 1979.

Tags:
Flashman, Flashman quotes,Rani Lakshmibai.

Cold eyes and pale faces

‘Can you not see that that is not our way – that none of our ways are your ways? you talk of your reforms, and the benefits of British law and the Sirkar’s rule – and never think that what seems ideal to you may not suit others; that we have our own customs, which you may think strange and foolish, and perhaps they are – but they are ours – our own! You come, in your strength, and your certaintu, with your cold eyes and pale faces, like … like machines marching out of your northern ice and you will have everything in order, tramping in step like your soldiers, whether those you conquer and civilize – as you call it – whether they will do or no. Do you not see that it is better to leave people be – to let them alone?’

Flashman in the Great Game, p.95, Pan edition, 4th printing, 1979.

Tags:
Flashman, Flashman quotes,Rani Lakshmibai.

Enterprising lads

I’ve seen a deal of war, and agree with Sherman that it’s hell, but the Mutiny was the Seventh Circle under the pit. Of course it had its compensations: for one, I came through it, pretty whole, which is more than Havelock and Harry East and Johnny Nicholson did, enterprising lads that they were. (What’s the use of a campaign if you don’t survive it?)…

Flashman in the Great Game, p.13, Pan edition, 4th printing, 1979.

Tags:
Flashman, Flashman quotes,campaign, war.