People he loves

     ‘Although he is quite a dreadful person, really. He is absolutely selfish and dishonest and quite shameless. He has a shocking reputation — and deserves it. Just a few years ago he had to leave Sandringham in disgrace. ‘ She had apparently forgotten that Mr Franklin had been there. ‘How Aunt Elspeth has endured him . . . do you know that next year they will have been married for seventy-five years? It seems incredible . . . she is ninety years old, and a darling. So is he, I suppose — and yet sometimes I feel that I hate him more than anyone I’ve ever known; you would not beleve how mean and deceitful he can be — even with people he loves.’


Mr American, p.433, Pan Books, paperback edition 1982.


Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, hate.

Chasing tweeny maids

     Or her disgraceful great-uncle, for that matter. Now there was a character, and no mistake: still chasing tweeny maids at the age of eighty-seven, treating old age as an advantage rather than a handicap, obviously. What must it be like to be that ancient and just not give a damn?



Mr American, p.202, Pan Books, paperback edition 1982.



Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, uncle.

A fine psychologist

He was a fine psychologist—you’ll note he had weighed me for a fugitive and a scoundrel on short acquaintance—an astute politician, and a bloody, cruel, treacherous barbarian who’d have been a disgrace to the Stone Age. If that seems contradictory—well, Indians are contrary critters, and Apaches more than most.

Flashman and the Redskins, p.169, Pan Books edition, 1983.

Tags:Flashman, Flashman quotes, contradictory.