Nothing like the job

…kings and chancellors confided in him, empresses and grand duchesses whispered him their secrets, prime ministers and ambassadors sought his advice, and while he was up to every smoky dodge in his hunt for news, he never broke a pledge or betrayed a confidence — or so everyone said, Blowitz loudest of all. I guess his appearance helped, for he was nothing like the job at all, being a five-foot butterball with a beaming baby face behind a mighty moustache, innocent blue eyes, bald head, and frightful whiskers a foot long…

Flashman and the Tiger, p.14, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.


Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, appearance.

In search of a hero

     It’s being six foot two and desperate-looking, that does it, you know; if I’d been short-arsed with no chin and knock-knees, no one in search of a hero would have looked at me twice.


Flashman and the Angel of the Lord, p.130, Harper Collins, 1995.


Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, hero.

Brave in buckskin

I raised an eyebrow myself when the boy general arrived a few days later, all brave in fringed buckskin and red scarf over his uniform, but with a face like a two-day corpse.

Flashman and the Redskins, p.288, Pan Books edition, 1983.

Tags:Flashman, Flashman quotes, face.

Dinner in style

The chiefs came to dinner in style, six of them all in buckskins and feathers, led by the famous Oglala, Red Cloud, a grim savage with a face you could have used to split kindling.

Flashman and the Redskins, p.235, Pan Books edition, 1983.

Tags:Flashman, Flashman quotes, kindling.

Decamp, squeal, or betray

      It’s a remarkable thing (and I’ve traded on it all my life) that a single redeeming quality in a black sheep wins greater esteem than all the virtues in honest men—especially if the quality is courage. I’m lucky, because while I don’t have it, I look as though I do, and worthy souls like Carson and Wootton never suspect that I’m running around with my bowels squirting, ready to decamp, squeal, or betray as occasion demands.

Flashman and the Redskins, p.206, Pan Books edition, 1983.

Tags:Flashman, Flashman quotes, courage.

Flashman on campaigning

…sufficient to say that I bilked, funked, ran for dear life and screamed for mercy as the occasion demanded, all through that ghastly campaign, and came out with four medals, the thanks of Parliament, an audience of our Queen, and a handshake from the Duke of Wellington. It’s astonishing what you can make out of a bad business if you play your hand right and look noble at the proper time.

Flashman's Lady, p.14, Pan edition, 1979.

Tags:Flashman, Flashman quotes, noble.

Her Britannic Majesty

…but her first glimpse of our royal hosts reduced her awe a trifle, I think. We took a stroll the first afternoon, in the direction of Balmoral, and on the road encounted what seemed to be a family of tinkers led by a small washerwoman and an usher who had evidently pinched his headmaster’s clothes.

Flashman in the Great Game, p.20, Pan edition, 4th printing, 1979.

Tags:
Flashman, Flashman quotes,Queen Victoria, Prince Albert.

Long legs and a thumping slice of luck

…I’ve sweated and scampered through during fifty inglorious years of soldiering. Leastways, I know they were inglorious, but the country don’t, thank heaven, which is why they rewarded me with general rank and the knighthood and a double row of medals on my left tit. Which shows you what cowardice and roguery can do, given a stalwart appearance, long legs and a thumping slice of luck…

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

Tags:
Flashman, Flashman quotes,knighthood, soldiering.

It sounded well

‘I know the value of the regalia as well as you, but there are times when even jewels are unimportant.’ (I couldn’t think of one off hand, but it sounded well.)

Royal Flash, pp.246-7, Pan edition, 8th printing, 1978.

Tags:
Flashman, Flashman quotes.

Tremendous rank

Plainly it was either from someone of tremendous rank or the manufacturers of a new brand of treacle.

Royal Flash, p.61, Pan edition, 8th printing, 1978.

Tags:
Flashman, Flashman quotes,treacle.

Give me the shadow

All I could see was that somehow appearances were heavily on my side – and who needs more than that? Give me the shadow every time, and you can keep the substance – it’s a principle I’ve followed all my life, and it works, if you know how to act on it.

Flashman, p.244, Pan edition, 12th printing, 1979.

Tags:
Flashman, Flashman quotes.

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.



Tags:
Flashman, Flashman quotes,coward, scoundrel.