General Flashman and the Great War, Part 1

     Mr Franklin replied non-committally, and asked the General what he thought of the war situation. The old man shrugged.
     ‘Contemptible — but of course it always is. We should stay out, and to hell with Belgium. After all, it’s stretching things to say we’re committed to ’em, and we’d be doing ’em a favour — and the frogs too.’
     ‘By not protecting them, you mean? I don’t quite see that.’
     ‘You wouldn’t — because like most idiots you think of war being between states - coloured blobs on the map. You think if we can keep Belgium green, or whatever colour it is, instead of Prussian blue, then hurrah for everyone. But war ain’t between coloured blobs — it’s between people. You know what people are, I suppose? — chaps in trousers, and women in skirts, and kids in small clothes.’*

*See also General Flashman and the Great War, Part 2 [Speedicut]


Mr American, p.518, Pan Books, paperback edition 1982.


Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, people.

A mountain of trouble

First off the Balkans . . . you have to understand that they’re full of people who’d much rather massacre each other than not…


Flashman and the Tiger, p.23, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.


Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, Balkans.

The English view

“What did you think of him . . . from an English point of view, I mean?”
… “From an English point of view? Well, they’d not take him in Whites . . . not sure about Reform, though.”


Flashman and the Angel of the Lord, p.342, Harper Collins, 1995.



Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, English.

Flashman on the British Empire

You’ll have heard it said that the British Empire was acquired in a fit of absence of mind — one of those smart Oscarish squibs that sounds well but is thoroughly fat-headed. Presence of mind, if you like — and countless other things, such as greed and Christianity, decency and villainy, policy and lunacy, deep design and blind chance, pride and trade, blunder and curiosity, passion, ignorance, chivalry and expediency, honest pursuit of right, and determination to keep the bloody Frogs out. And as often as not, such things came tumbling together, and when the dust had settled, there we were, and who else was going to set things straight and feed the folk and guard the gate and dig the drains — oh, aye, and take the profits, by all means.



Flashman and the Mountain of Light, p.24, Fontana Paperback edition, 1991.



Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, empire.

The great thing about policy

That’s the great thing about policy, and why the world is such an infernal place: the man who makes the policy don’t have to carry it out, and the man who carries it out ain’t responsible for the policy.

Flashman and the Dragon, p.283, Fontana Paperback edition, 1986.



Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, policy.

Rolling up the Peiho

Fifteen thousand horse, foot and guns rolling up the Peiho, not to fight or hold or to conquer, but just so that the Big Barbarian could stand before the Son of Heaven and watch him put his mark on paper. “And when he does,” says Elgin, “the ends of the earth will have met at last, and there will be no more savage kings for our people to subdue. We’ve come a long way from our northern forests; I wonder if we were wise.”


Flashman and the Dragon, p.168, Fontana Paperback edition, 1986.



Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, sign.