Scrubbing away

      I was scrubbing away, whistling “Drink, puppy, drink”, when I heard a hand-bell tinkle, in the boudoir. You’ll have to wait a while, my dear, thinks I, but then I heard voices and realized she had summoned Mangla, and was giving instructions in a dreamy, exhausted whisper.
      “You may dismiss Rai and the Python,” murmurs she. “I shall have no need of them today . . . perhaps not tomorrow . . .”
      I should think not, indeed. So I sang “Rule Britannia”.


Flashman and the Mountain of Light, p.155, Fontana Paperback edition, 1991.


Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, indeed.

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.

At peace and dog-tired

…the storm of war and action hurtles you along in blood and thunder, seeking vainly for a hold to cling to, and then the wind drops, and in a moment you’re at peace and dog-tired, with your back to a gun-wheel at Gwalior, or closing your eyes in a corner seat of the Deadwood Stage, or drinking tea contentedly with an old Kirghiz bandit in a serai on the Golden Road, or sitting alone with the President of the United States at the end of a great war, listening to him softly whistle “Dixie”.


Flashman and the Dragon, p.287, Fontana Paperback edition, 1986.



Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, reflection.