The partner of my fate

“But what have I to fear,” cries he, with a great idiot laugh, “when the bravest soldier of the British Army, the partner of my fate, is by my side?”
      A great deal, I could have told him, if Bismarck's bullies were after him; he'd find himself relying on the communications cord.


Flashman and the Tiger, p.41, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.


Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, fear.

You bloody vandals

      My first thought was, why, you bloody vandals, I don’t shock easy, and have no more of the milk of human kindness than you’d put in a cup of tea; I’ll taunt and gloat over a fallen foe any day, and out a boot in his ribs if he sasses back — but I’m a brute and a bully. These were your upstanding pillars of society, bursting with Christian piety and love thy neighbour, and here they were, shaking their sanctimonious heads as they harassed and goaded a seemingly dying man… They even had the effrontery to argue and hector him, now that he was beat and helpless — I’d have liked to see ’em argue with him eight hours back, when he was standing up with his guns on.


Flashman and the Angel of the Lord, p.339, Harper Collins, 1995.


Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, taunt.

Teasing gorillas

      I wouldn’t feel sorry for Omomhundro at any time, least of all with two of his bullies pinioning me and blowing baccy juice in my face but I confess to a momentary pang just then, as though he’d passed the port to the right. For giving orders to J.C. Spring is simply one of the things that are never done; you’d be better teasing a mating gorilla.

Flashman and the Redskins, p.29, Pan Books edition, 1983.

Tags:Flashman, Flashman quotes, gorilla.

The nature of evil

. . . I’ve heard some say she was just plain mad and didn’t know what she was doing. That’s an old excuse which ordinary folk take refuge in because they don’t care to believe there are people who enjoy inflicting pain. ‘He’s mad,’ they’ll say – but they only say it because they see a little of themselves in the tyrant, too, and want to shudder away from it quickly, like well-bred little Christians. Mad? Aye, Ranavalona was mad as a hatter, in many ways – but not where cruelty was concerned. She knew quite what she was doing, and studied to do it better, and was deeply gratified by it, and that’s the professional opinion of kindly old Dr Flashy, who’s a time-served bully himself.

Flashman's Lady, p.239, Pan edition, 1979.

Tags:Flashman, Flashman quotes, evil.

Hulking louts who box

That’s the trouble with those snivelling little sneaks one knocks about at school; they grow up into hulking louts who box, and are always in prime trim.

Flashman's Lady, p.15, Pan edition, 1979.

Dander good and high

He stopped, frowning. ‘Also, if there’s one thing can get my dander good and high, it’s a big-mouthed Kentuckian hill rooster with his belly over his britches and a sass-me-and-see-what-happens look in his eye.’

Flash For Freedom!, p.244-45, Pan edition, 8th printing, 1980.

Tags:
Flashman, Flashman quotes,Abraham Lincoln, bully.

Sticks and stones

And I went back to work on him. I confess that I thoroughly enjoyed it, as only a true coward can, for only your coward and bully really understand how terrible pain can be.

Royal Flash, p.180, Pan edition, 8th printing, 1978.

Tags:
Flashman, Flashman quotes.

Admirably well ordered

They [Germans] say what they think, which isn’t much as a rule, and they are admirably well ordered. Everyone in Germany knows his place and stays in it, and grovels to those above him, which makes it an excellent country for gentlemen and bullies.

Royal Flash, p.70, Pan edition, 8th printing, 1978.

Tags:
Flashman, Flashman quotes.

I never imagined

That you are a bully, I know; that you are untruthful, I have long suspected; that you are deceitful and mean, I have feared; but that you had fallen so low to be a drunkard - that, at least, I never imagined.





Flashman, p. 13, Pan edition, 12th printing, 1979.

Tags: bully, untruthful, drunk.