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.


Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, emotion.

Camps and courts of the mighty

You may think this a tame enough occupation for one who has assisted at as many major catastrophes as I have, and a poor setting after the camps and courts of the mighty, but I was getting on, you know, and as the Good Book says, there's a time for racketing about crying Ha-ha! among the trumpets, and a time for sitting back with your feet dipped in butter watching others fall in the mire.


Flashman and the Tiger, p.222, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.


Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, tame.

The width of a sabre blade

I’ll tell you something else, which military historians never realize: they call the Crimea a disaster, which it was, and a hideous botch-up by our staff and supply, which is also true, but what they don’t know is that with all these things in the balance against you, the difference between hellish catastrophe and brilliant success is sometimes no greater than the width of a sabre blade, but when all is over no one thinks of that. Win gloriously - and the clever dicks forget all about the rickety ambulances that never came, and the rations that were rotten, and the boots that didn’t fit, and the generals who’d have been better employed hawking bedpans round the doors. Lose – and these are the only things they talk about.

Flashman at the Charge, pp.41-2, Pan edition, 5th printing, 1979.

Tags:
Flashman, Flashman quotes,Crimean War, military historians.

Nothing so cheering

With the danger safely past, I was soon in good fettle again. As I’ve said before, there’s nothing so cheering as surviving a peril in which companions have perished, and our losses had been heavy.

Flash For Freedom!, p.85, Pan edition, 8th printing, 1980.

Tags:
Flashman, Flashman quotes.

Pleasure in catastrophe

There is great pleasure in catastrophe that doesn’t touch you, and anyone who says there isn’t is a liar. Haven’t you seen it in the face of a bearer of bad news, and heard it in the unctuous phrases at the church gate after a funeral?

Flashman, pp.206 - 07, Pan edition, 12th printing, 1979.

Tags:
Flashman, Flashman quotes,catastrophe, pleasure.