Antique whiskers

. . . and then I remembered that this same Napier, with his antique whiskers and one foot in the grave, had recently married a spanking little filly of eighteen, which had plainly influenced his outlook on commerce with the fairer sex; no wonder he looked as though he’d been fed through a mangle.


Flashman on the March, p.58, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2005.


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Run

That’s what you young chaps have got to remember – when you run, run, full speed, with never a thought for anything else; don’t look or listen or dither even for an instant; let terror have his way, for he’s the best friend you’ve got.

Flashman's Lady, p.103, Pan edition, 1979.

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Evenly spread bigotry

…he had in tow the cocky little sheeny D’Israeli, whom I never could stomach. He was pathetic really, trying to behave like the Young Idea when he was well into greasy middle age, with his lovelock and fancy vest, like a Punjabi whoremaster….if I’d been able to read the future I might have toadied him a good deal more, I dare say.

Flash For Freedom!, pp.24-25, Pan edition, 8th printing, 1980.

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Now they work as ministerial advisers

He was one of those very young, intense creatures of the kind you see addressing heaven in the background of pictures showing Napolean crossing the Alps in dancing pumps.

Royal Flash, p.247, Pan edition, 8th printing, 1978.

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Young and raw

When you are young and raw and on the brink of adventure, you set great store by having your side-arms just right, because you are full of romantic notions of how you will use them. Even I felt a thrill when I first handled a sabre at practice with the 11th Light Dragoons, and imagined myself pinking and mowing down hordes of ferocious but obligingly futile enemies. But when you’ve seen a sabre cut to the bone, and limbs mangled by bullets, you come out of your daydream pretty sharp.

Royal Flash, pp.67 - 68, Pan edition, 8th printing, 1978.

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Rain-sodden country

…even now I see the scarlet coats in the fading light, and smell the rain-sodden country, and hear the yelps of the fellows as they cheered each other on and laughed and cursed. God, it was good to be young and English then!

Royal Flash, pp.32 - 33, Pan edition, 8th printing, 1978.

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Flashman, Flashman quotes.