The decline of duelling

‘The decline of duelling has ruined more private lives than I care to think of — in my young day nobody’d have dared tittle-tattle the way they do now. Horse-whipping journalists has gone out too.’


Mr American, p.521, Pan Books, paperback edition 1982.


Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, journalist.

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.

Say no more

…well, if it’s scuttle-butt you want, you don’t go to a cathedral, do you?

Flashman in the Great Game, p.59, Pan edition, 4th printing, 1979.

Tags:
Flashman, Flashman quotes,cathedral, scuttle-butt.