Curmudgeonly grunts

…the curmudgeon only grunted: “The Sikh speaks, the cobra spits — who grows fat on the difference?”


Flashman and the Mountain of Light, p.56, Fontana Paperback edition, 1991.


Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, cobra.

Political work

As a rule, I’d run a mile from political work — skulking about in nigger* clobber, living on millet and sheep guts, lousy as the tinker’s dog, scared stiff you’ll start whistling “Waltzing Matilda” in a mosque, and finishing with your head on a pole like Burnes and McNaghten.


*NB. Flashman's use of ugly racial epitaphs is a continuing problem for more enlightened, contemporary readers. The inclusion of these passages should not be mistaken for tacit support of his misanthropic, 19th century view of race relations.  



Flashman and the Mountain of Light, p.38, Fontana Paperback edition, 1991.


Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes.

Proud as Lucifer

…he was a big, rangy Punjabi Mussulman, a veteran of Aliwal, and the frontier, proud as Lucifer of his stripes and himself, the kind of devoted ass who thinks his colonel is his father and even breaks wind by numbers.

Flashman in the Great Game, p.144, Pan edition, 4th printing, 1979.

Tags:
Flashman, Flashman quotes, Aliwal.

Nothing thirstier

…there’s nothing thirstier than a dry Gilzai – if you think all Muslims abstain, I can tell you of one who didn’t.

Flashman in the Great Game, p.100, Pan edition, 4th printing, 1979.

Tags:
Flashman, Flashman quotes,Ghilzai, abstain.