Let ’em try

A scandal was averted, and Sir Harry, taxed with his behaviour by indignant lawyers — principally his own, a sorely-tried and ready-witted practitioner in Wine Office Court — claimed total innocence of any attempt to pervert the course of justice. On being assured that he might easily have been prosecuted for conspiracy, the old soldier had remarked scornfully: ‘Let ’em try to put a ninety-two-year-old hero of Balaclava in the Scrubs if they dare. There’d be a revolution.’ And there that particular aspect of the case rested, with not a few sighs of relief.


Mr American, p.394, Pan Books, paperback edition 1982.


Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, justice.

He will surely do

      They were the kind of words you’d expect to hear from a Brooke or a Custer, spoken with a heroic flourish and a fist on a table. Napier said them with all the fervour of a man reading a railway time-table . . . but I thought, farewell and adieu, Brother Theodore, your goose is cooked; this quiet old buffer with the dreary whiskers may not shout the odds, but what he says he will surely do.


Flashman on the March, pp.53-4, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2005.


Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, words.

All belly and beard

Admiral Tegethoff, a bluff old sport, all belly and beard, munched her knuckles and gave glad welcome to the begrimed and ragged peon whom she presented as the hoch und wohlgeboren Sir Harry Flashman, former aide, champion, and all-round hero of the campaign . . .



Flashman on the March, p.5, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2005.


Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, champion.

I can’t abide leeks

As an unworthy holder of that Cross myself, I’ll say they earned them, and as much glory as you like, for there never was a stand like it in all the history of war. For they didn’t only stand against impossible odds, you see — they stood and won, the garrulous little buggers, and not just ’cos they had Martinis against spears and clubs and a few muskets; they beat ’em hand to hand too, steel against steel at the barricades, and John Zulu gave them best. Well, you know what I think of heroism, and I can’t abide leeks, but I wear a daffodil as my buttonhole on Davey’s Day, for Rorke’s Drift.


Flashman and the Tiger, p.288, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.


Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, Welsh.

Nobody puts Flashy in the corner

      “Now you know the kind of woman you married. And if you spurn me it will break my heart — but I would do it again, a thousand times!” I’ll swear she gritted her teeth. “No one — no one! speaks ill of my hero, and that’s the size of it!”


Flashman and the Tiger, p.263, Harper Collins, paperback edition 2000.


Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, spurn.

Play it easy and modest

…I watched with approval, for I knew this game of old, having played it myself a hundred times in the days when I was being hero-worshipped. It’s almost a ritual: they flatter you by praising your words or actions, and you play it easy and modest, but just giving a hint every now and then, in a humorous way, what a desperate fellow you are, because that’s what they love above all.


Flashman and the Angel of the Lord, pp.214-15, Harper Collins, 1995.



Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, hero.

In search of a hero

     It’s being six foot two and desperate-looking, that does it, you know; if I’d been short-arsed with no chin and knock-knees, no one in search of a hero would have looked at me twice.


Flashman and the Angel of the Lord, p.130, Harper Collins, 1995.


Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, hero.

A journalistic law

… it’s a journalistic law, you see, that heroes can never do anything ordinary; when Flashy, the Hector of Afghanistan, beats a reluctant retreat, there must be an army howling at his heels, or the public cancel their subscription.



Flashman and the Mountain of Light, pp.335-36, Fontana Paperback edition, 1991.



Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, journalism.

A well-decorated hero

      For a well-decorated hero I’ve done a deal of surrendering in my time — which is doubtless why I remain a well-decorated hero.



Flashman and the Dragon, p.186, Fontana Paperback edition, 1986.




Tags: Flashman, Flashman quotes, hero.

No such thing

There’s no such thing as an unfashionable hero or an unsuitable heiress.

Flashman's Lady, p.22, Pan edition, 1979.

Tags:Flashman, Flashman quotes, hero, heiress.

The bugle blows

One of the difficulties of being a popular hero, though, is that it’s difficult to wriggle out of sight when the bugle blows.

Flashman at the Charge, p.12, Pan edition, 5th printing, 1979.

Tags:
Flashman, Flashman quotes,hero.

Almost Famous

Of course, I’d had plenty of admiration when I came home from Afghanistan, but that was different. Then they’d said: ‘There’s the heroic Flashman, the bluff young lionheart who slaughters niggers* and upholds old England’s honour. Gad, look at those whiskers!’ Which was splendid but didn’t suggest that I was more than human.

Royal Flash, p.145, Pan edition, 8th printing, 1978.

*Flashman's use of racial epitahs is a continuing problem for more enlightened, contemporary readers. The inclusion of these passages should not be taken as tacit support for his misanthropic, 19th century view of race relations.

Tags:
Flashman, Flashman quotes.

Ideal time to be a hero

The ideal time to be a hero is when the battle is over and the other fellows are dead, God rest ’em, and you take the credit.

Royal Flash, p.12, Pan edition, 8th printing, 1978.

Tags:
Flashman, Flashman quotes,hero.

Half-decent soldier

If I had been the hero everyone thought I was, or even a half-decent soldier, Lee would have won the battle of Gettysburg and probably captured Washington.

Royal Flash, p.11, Pan edition, 8th printing, 1978.

Tags:
Flashman, Flashman quotes,Robert E. Lee, Gettysburg.