Bernard Cornwell Quotes
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'The Major's a grand big fellow, so he is.' 'So what are we? The damned?' 'We're that, sure enough, but we're also Riflemen, sir. You and me, we're the best God-damned Soldiers in the world.'
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'Would you give my warmest regards to Sir Arthur Wellesley? Or Lord Wellington as we must now call him.' 'You know him, sir?' 'Of course. We were at the Royal Academy of Equiation together, at Angers. It's strange, Major, how your greatest soldier was taught to fight in France.'
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Sharpe, Lossow suspected, often got what he wanted, but the achievements never seemed to satisfy. His friend, the German decided, was like a man who, searching for a crock of gold, found ten and rejected them all because the pots were the wrong shape.
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'The Irish are very largely Romish, Sharpe. Papists! We shall have to watch our theological discourse if we're not to unsettle their tempers! You and I might know that the pope is the reincarnation of the Scarlet Whore of Babylon, but it won't help our cause if we say it out loud. Know what I mean?'
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'There's a great bloody mine, sir! Just waiting to kill our lads! I ain't letting that happen. You can do what you bloody well like, but I'm going to kill some more of these bastards.'
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'Whoa there, lad! Whoa! Gentle now! Die well, die well.'
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'Sensible thing to do, is for us to bugger off out of here and got to bed.' 'Sensible thing to do, is get out the bloody army and die in bed.' 'But that's not why we joined, is it?' 'Speak for yourself, sir. I just joined to get a square meal. Getting killed wasn't really part of the idea at all.'
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'Made in Sheffield, and guaranteed never to fail! Good slicer this is, real good. You can cut a man in half with one of these if you get the stroke right.'
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Sir Thomas was a sentimental man. He loved Soldiers. He had once thought all men who wore the red coat were rogues and thieves, the scourings of the gutters, and since he had joined the army he had discovered he was right, but he had also learned to love them. He loved their patience, their ferocity, their endurance, and their bravery.
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'So I do my duty, and land in the shit.' 'You have at last seized the essence of soldiering.'
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If he had learned one thing as a Soldier it was that any decision, even a bad one, was better than none.
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For five thousand infantry would now cross the Kaitna at a place where men said the river was uncrossable, then fight an enemy horde at least ten times their number. ... The enemy had stolen a march, the redcoats had journeyed all night and were bone tired, but Wellesley would have his battle.
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Book tours and research provide a lot of travel - too much, I sometimes think, but we do take vacations.
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Of course some days are easier than others, but my worst day is better than being in most humdrum occupations.
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'What do you think?' 'Sir?' 'Frightening? Did you ever learn mathematics?' 'Yes, sir.' 'So add up how many Frenchmen can actually use their muskets.'
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He's actually a rather good ruler. Better, I suspect, than most of our Christian monarchs. He's certainly been good for Mysore. He's fetched it a deal of wealth, given it more justice than most countries enjoy in India and he's been tolerant to most religions, though I fear he did persecute some unfortunate Christians.
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A Marshal of France is a fine fellow, second only to the Emperor, and he wore a dark blue uniform edged with golden leaves, and his collar and shoulders were heavy with gilt decorations. A Marshal of France was given privileges, riches, and honour, but they had to be earned by answering the difficult questions.
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Looking back, of course, it was irresponsible, mad, forlorn, idiotic, but if you don't take chances then you'll never have a winning hand, and I've no regrets.
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'The door is locked, Captain.' 'Then I'll break it down.' 'It is a shrine.' 'Then I'll say a prayer of forgiveness after I've knocked it down.'
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'The more I see of families ... the happier I am to be an orphan.'
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Judy couldn't move to Britain for family reasons, so I had to come to the States, and the U.S. government wouldn't give me a Green Card, so I airily told her I'd write a book.
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Your friend Will is a good man, too,but I fear he's no longer an archer.' 'It would have been better, I sometimes think-' 'If he had died? Wish death on no man, Thomas, it comes soon enough without a wish.'
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I know nothing about producing TV drama and any involvement on my part is liable to prove an obstacle to the producers, so I prefer to be a cheerleader and let them get on with it.
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'You want a blessing, my son? Then God give strength to your bow and add bite to your arrows! May your arm never tire and your eye never dim. God and the saints bless you while you kill!'