A malevolent eye

     The port did not circulate very long after the ladies had left, however. General Flashman, rendered even more reminiscent by the champagne he had consumed, joined the group around the King at the table head and launched into a vivid recollection of how his majesty, as a youthful Prince of Wales fifty years before, had been compromised by an Actress in Ireland, to the dismay of the other guests and the suppressed fury of the King. To make matters worse, the old man took to calling the King 'young Bertie', and an unpleasant scene was prevented only by Soveral's tactful suggestion that they should join the ladies, who would be eager for bridge. The King, glaring thunderously, took the hint and led the way from the dining room: General Flashman cocked a malevolent eye and observed: 'Bridge, eh? Played it in Russia before you lot were born. Game for half-wits.' and then fell asleep over the decanter.


Mr American, p.198, Pan Books, paperback edition 1982.


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Remembrance of things past

Any soldier will tell you that, in the heat of a fight, sights and sounds imprint themselves on your memory and stay vivid for fifty years . . . but you lose all sense of time.



Flashman and the Mountain of Light, p.337, Fontana Paperback edition, 1991.



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Did they not Sir Harry?

. . . that glittering pyramid of light, broad as a crown piece, alive with an icy fire that seems to shine from its very heart. It’s a matchless, evil thing, and shouldn’t be a diamond at all, but a ruby, red as the blood of the thousands who’ve died for it. But it wasn’t that, or its terrible beauty, that had shaken me . . . it was the memory, all unexpected. Aye, I’d seen it before.
      “The Mountain of Light,” says the Queen complacently. “That is what the nabobs called it, did they not Sir Harry?”
      “Indeed, ma’am,” says I, a mite hoarse. “Koh-i-Noor.”


Flashman and the Mountain of Light, pp.16-17, Fontana Paperback edition, 1991.



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Best memories

…a brilliant chain that runs thousands of miles from the South China Sea to Australia and the far Pacific on the other side of the world. That’s the East – the Islands; and you may take it from one who has India in his bones, there’s no sea so blue, no lands so green and no sun so bright, as you’ll find beyond Singapore. What was it Solomon had said – ‘where it’s always morning.’ So it was, and in that part of my imagination where I keep the best memories, it always will be.

Flashman's Lady, p.90, Pan edition, 1979.

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A day to remember?

It should have been a day to remember, I suppose, but how much detail does one recall of one’s own wedding? – and it was my second you know.

Royal Flash, p.161, Pan edition, 8th printing, 1978.

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Flashman, Flashman quotes,wedding.

We will have lived

‘How will we look back on this?’ he mused. ‘When we are old, and in our country palaces, and the bold lads of a new day are elbowing for power in the chancelleries? I wonder.’ He shook his head. ‘I think I will wear leather breeches and allow myself to be laughed at in Stettin wool market, and sell two thalers cheaper to anyone who calls me “baron”. And you, Flashman – you will sit in your club in St James and grow fat on port and your memories. But we will have lived, by God! We will have fought! We will have won! Is it not something to have moved great affairs, and shaped the course of time?’

Royal Flash, p.136, Pan edition, 8th printing, 1978.

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Flashman, Flashman quotes.