Free and easy style

. . . my bootneck sergeant scowled disapproval; he wasn’t use to the free and easy style of these Navy youngsters who couldn’t help bring their fifth-form ways to sea, and treated their men more like a football of which they were the captain, than a crew. It was natural enough: the cornet or ensign in the Army, when he joined his regiment for the first time, entered a world of rigid formality and discipline, but here was this lad just out of his ’teens with a little floating kingdom all his own, sent to fight slavers and pirates, chase smugglers, shepherd pilgrims, and escort the precious bullion on which a whole British army would depend — and not a senior to turn to for advice or guidance, but only his own sense and judgment.


Flashman on the March, p.17, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2005.



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My desperate reputation

They [the press] were never rash enough to suggest I should have command, but seemed to have in mind some auxiliary post of Slaughterer-General, as befitting my desperate reputation.


Flashman and the Tiger, p.46, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.



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Time for a little something

       I suppose Cardigan’s “Walk—march—trot!” at Balaclava is the most memorable battlefield command I’ve ever heard, but J.B.'s order for breakfast at Harper’s Ferry runs it close.


Flashman and the Angel of the Lord, p.283, Harper Collins, 1995.


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Orders from the top

...quem te Deus esse jussit.*


*What God commanded you to be.


Flashman and the Angel of the Lord, p.56, Harper Collins, 1995.


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Flashy commands

      “Sang-kol-in-sen! That lady and her child are under the protection of Her Majesty’s Government! Molest them at your peril! I speak for Lord Elgin and the British Army, so . . . back off, d’you see?” And for good measure I added: “You dirty dog, you!”


Flashman and the Dragon, p.254, Fontana Paperback edition, 1986.



Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, protection.