The Villain Still Pursued Her

Well, this was Act Two of “The Villain Still Pursued Her” with a vengeance, wasn’t it just? Not that I disbelieved it for an instant — show me melodrama, and I’ll show you truth, every time.


Flashman and the Tiger, p.295, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.


Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, melodrama.

Tricky villains

…I liked him, you see, in spite of his being a journalist. Tricky villains, especially if they work for The Times.


Flashman and the Tiger, p.13, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.


Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, journalist.

Your vacant gape

“We may agree with Horace, I think — Raro antecedentem scelestrum deseruit pede poena claudo. I see from your vacant gape that you’re no better acquainted with his works than you were on the College, damn you ignorance! So I’ll tell you it means that Justice, though moving slowly, seldom fails to overhaul the fleeing villain.”


Flashman and the Angel of the Lord, p.59, Harper Collins, 1995.


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True words

…the only fly in the ointment as I rolled down to Calcutta had been the discovery that during my absence from England some scribbling swine had published his reminiscences of Rugby School, with me as the villain of the piece. A vile volume entitled Tom Brown’s Schooldays, on every page of which the disgusting Flashy was to be found torturing fags, shirking, toadying, lying, whining for mercy, and boozing himself to disgraceful expulsion — every word of it true, and all the worse for that.


Flashman and the Angel of the Lord, p.23, Harper Collins, 1995.



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Memories of Tom Brown

…oh, aye, that brought back Master Brown to memory sharp enough. He was the mealy, freckled little villain who tried to steal my sweepstake ticket, damn him – a pious, crawling little toad-eater who prayed like clockwork and was forever sucking up to Arnold and Brooke – ‘yes, sir, please, sir, I’m a bloody Christian, sir’…

Flashman in the Great Game, p.334, Pan edition, 4th printing, 1979.

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Stay, cruel despot!

Now, I don’t recite all these barbarities to shock or excite your pity, or to pose as one of those holy hypocrites who pretend to be in a great sweat about man’s inhumanity to man. I’ve seen too much of it, and know it happens whenever strong folk have absolute power over spiritless creatures. I merely tell you what I truly saw – as for my own view, well I’m all for keeping the peasants in order, and if hammering ’em does good, and makes life better for the rest of us, you won’t find me leaping between the tyrant and his victim crying ‘Stay, cruel despot!’…

Flashman at the Charge, p.146, Pan edition, 5th printing, 1979.

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Flashman, Flashman quotes,villain, despot.

Education and evil-doing

‘Well, now,’ says Lincoln, ‘why not? Some of the greatest villains in history have been educated men. Without that education they might have been honest citizens. a few years at college won’t make a bad man virtuous; it will merely put the polish on his wickedness.’
….’Why at this rate, you will equate learning with evil-doing,’ cries someone. ‘What must your view be of our leading justices and politicians? Are they not virtuous men?’
   ‘Oh, virtuous enough,’ says Lincoln. ‘But what they would be like if they had been educated is another matter.’

Flash For Freedom!, p.127, Pan edition, 8th printing, 1980.

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Flashman, Flashman quotes,Abraham Lincoln.

Killing gents

In a novel, of course, or a play, murders are committed so; the villain leers and gloats, and the victim pleads. In my practical experience, however, killing gentlemen like de Gautet are far too practiced for such nonsense; they shoot suddenly and cleanly and the job’s done.

Royal Flash, p.177, Pan edition, 8th printing, 1978.

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Flashman, Flashman quotes.

Flashman on swots

Pious, manly little villains of the type I used to oppress myself in happier days – Tom Brown could have made a football side out of ‘em, I don’t doubt, and had them crying ‘ Play up!’ and telling the truth fit to sicken you.

Royal Flash, p.151, Pan edition, 8th printing, 1978.

Tags:
Flashman, Flashman quotes,manly, villains.