My strongest suit

Still, it’s odd that I never got my tongue around it, for apart from fleeing and fornication, slinging the bat* is my strongest suit; well, I speak nine languages better than natives, and can rub along in another dozen or so.


*Speaking the local language (Brit. Army slang)

Flashman and the Redskins, p.17, Pan Books edition, 1983.

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A minor talent

I may not be good for much, but if I have a minor talent it’s for finding the back doors when coppers, creditors, and outraged are coming in the front. I had the advantage of having my pants up and my boots on this time…

Flashman's Lady, p.275, Pan edition, 1979.

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He'd still be employable today

Mangles, at the Board of Control in London, had described it as ‘tranquil beneath the Company’s benevolent rule’, but he was a pompous ass with a talent for talking complete bosh on subjects on which he was an authority.

Flashman in the Great Game, p.65, Pan edition, 4th printing, 1979.

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Flashman, Flashman quotes,pompous, talent.

Infinitely greater

…I liked Abe Lincoln from the moment I first noticed him, leaning back in his chair with that hidden smile at the back of his eyes, gently cracking his knuckles. Just why I liked him I can’t say; I suppose in his own way he had the makings of as big a scoundrel as I am myself, but his appetites were different, and his talents infinitely greater. I can’t think of him as a good man, yet as history measures these things I suppose he did great good. Not that that excites my admiration unduly…

Flash For Freedom!, pp.126-27, Pan edition, 8th printing, 1980.

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Flashman, Flashman quotes,Abraham Lincoln.

Naturally talented

I’m a dirty scoundrel, but it has come to me naturally; Rudi made a profession out of it.

Royal Flash, p.220, Pan edition, 8th printing, 1978.

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Flashman, Flashman quotes.