Gripping Master Starnberg

...what was gripping Master Starnberg was the sheer wanton delight in killing, of adding my distinguished head to his trophy room, of proving his mastery and seeing the fear in the eyes of a beaten opponent at his mercy — I know all about it, you see, for I 've enjoyed it myself, but while it's a luxury the wary coward can afford, it's a weakness in a brave man who's sure of his own superiority, for he forgets what your cold-blooded assassin (and your coward) never forget — that killing is a business, not a pleasure, and you must keep your sense of fun well in check.


Flashman and the Tiger, p.149, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.


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Not so quiet Americans

      “Unofficial death warrants have a habit of recoiling,” says he coolly. “My countrymen have one great failing — they talk too much.”


Flashman and the Angel of the Lord, p.335, Harper Collins, 1995.

 
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Cardinal folly

Master Ignatieff might be a clever and devilish dangerous man, but he had at least one of the besetting weaknesses of youth: he was as vain as an Etonian duke, and it led him to commit the cardinal folly in a diplomatic man. He talked too much.

Flashman at the Charge, p.207, Pan edition, 5th printing, 1979.

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Flashman, Flashman quotes,vain, youth.