1:56 Flashman describing the various ways that the sport of cricket was corrupted: ... wickets were doctored (I've known the whole eleven of a respected county side to sneak out en masse and piss on the wicket in the dark, so that their twisters could get a grip next morning; I caught a nasty cold myself).
1:122 Flashman describing how he dealt with a bookie: I'd have kicked his backside to Whitechapel and back, or taken a cane to him for his presumption, if he'd been on hand. Since he wasn't, I pocketed the bills and burned his letter; it's the only way to put these upstarts in their place.
2:17 Flashman sums up dinner party talk: ... with my guv'nor snoring and belching at the table head - the most sensible noises I'd heard all night.
2:91 Flashman describing how he judges others: I wondered for a moment if I had wronged him - for I know I tend to judge everyone by myself, and while I'm usually not far wrong to do so, there are decent and disinterested folk about, here and there. I've seen some.
3:1 Flashman on training: There's no doubt that a good gallop before work is the best training you can have ...
4:10 Flashman gives credit for his long life: ... it's because I've always feared the worst and been ready for it.
4:105 Flashman describing proper flight: It was my yellow belly that saved me, nothing else. A hero wouldn't have stood and fought - not against those odds, in such a place - but he'd at least have glanced back, to see how close the pursuit was, or maybe even have drawn rein to consider which way to run next. Which would have been fatal, for the speed at which they moved as fearful. ... - and in pure panic I went hurtling on, from one street to another, leaping every obstruction, screaming steadily for aid, but going at my uttermost every stride. 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.
4:128 Flashman on Christians: ... if there's one thing I detest more than another it's these hearty, selfish, muscular Christians who are forever making light of your troubles when all you want to do is lie whimpering.
5:82 Flashman decribes his approach to recovering a kidnapped wife: .. that was one of the disadvantages of life on the frontiers of the Empire in the earlies, that you were expected to do your own avenging and recovering, with such assistance as the authorities might lend. Not my style at all; left to old Flash it would have been a case of tooling round to the local constabulary, reporting a kidnapped wife, leaving my name and address, and letting 'em get on with it. After all, it's what they're paid for, and why else was I stumping up sevenpence in the pound income tax?
5:86 Flashman summarizes his feeling toward his father-in-law: [If I] hadn't despised the little swine so heartily, I might have felt sorry for him. I doubt it, thought.
6:57 Flashman's reaction to James Brooke saying that he would feel naked without a cutlass: He little knew that I could feel naked in a suit of armour in the bowels of a dreadnought being attacked by an angry bum-boat-woman. But one has to show willing, so I accepted his weapons with a dark scowl, and tried a cut or two with the cutlass for display, muttering professionally and praying to God I'd never have a chance to use it.
6:59 Flashman describes James Brooke's and his treatment of women rescued from the pirates: ... he visited them ... patting their heads and promising them they'd soon be safe home again; I'd have consoled some of 'em more warmly than that, myself - good taste, those Lanun pirates had - but of course there was none of that, under our peckerless leader.
7:5 Flashman's approach to combat: I was at Brooke's elbow, straining every nerve to keep his body between mine and the enemy's fire without being too obvious about it.
7:14 Flashman in the thick of things: .. and then Brooke had me on my feet again, yelling to know if I was all right, and I was yelling back that the corn on my big toe was giving me hell.
7:18 Flashman kills a dead man: ...and then he had gone over the side with a cutlass [not Flashman's] jammed to the hilt in his stomach; I fired at him as he fell ...
8:12 Solomon and Flashman argue over Elspeth:
- Flashman: "You kidnapped her, you filthy pirate, and - "
- Solomon: "Kidnapped? Saved, you mean!"
His eyes were blazing.
"Rescued her from a man - no, from a brute - who wasn't fit to
kiss her feet! Oh no - it's not kidnapping to take a pearl from a swine,
who fouls her with his very touch, who treats her as a mere concubine,
who betrays her -"
- Flashman: "It's a lie! I -"
- Solomon: "Didn't I see you with my own eyes? Coupling with that slut in
my own library - "
- Flashman: "Drawing-room -"
- Solomon: "- that harlot Lade? Isn't your name a byword in London for
debauchery and vice, for every kind of lewdness and depravity?"
- Flashman: "Not every kind! I never -"
- Solomon: "A rake, a cheat, a bully and a whoremonger - that's what I rescued
that sweet, brave women from. I took her from the hell of life with you -"
- Flashman: "You're mad!" I croaked. " She never said it was hell!"
8:38 Flashman dealing with Solomon's anger: It was touch and go that he didn't savage me on the bed, considering the drivel I was talking - but it sometimes works, rubbish with a ring of sincerity, when you're stuck with a hopeless case.
8:89 Flashman attacks his jailor in a manly fashion: ... and the next instant his courting tackle was half-way up inside his torso, impelled by my right boot, and Flashy was out and racing.
8:127 Flashman descring Queen Ranavalona's state of mind: She was quite mad, of course, and behaved like Messalina and Attila the Hun, either of whom would have taken one look at her and written to The Times, protesting.
9:31 Flashman watching Queen Ranavalona bathe: Some vulgar lout grunted lasciviously, and realising who it was I shrank back a trifle in sudden anxiety that I'd been overheard.
9:40 Flashman's post-play: ... usually one gives 'em a slap on the rump by way of congradulation, whistles up refreshments, and has a cozy chat.
9:56 Flashman comparing Queen Ranavalona's court with his childhood: What, for that matter, could I do, in this nest of intrigue and terror, where my life depended on the whim of a diabolical despot who was undoubtedly mad, fickle, dangerous, and fiendishly cruel? (Not unlike my first governess, in a way, except that their notions of bath-time for little Harry were somewhat different).
12:23 Flashman toadies to Queen Ranavalona: I heard me own teeth chattering, and then I was grovelling and pleading, protesting my loyalty, swearing she was the darlingest, loveliest queen who ever was.
12:39 The Flashman Gambit: When in doubt, run.
13:37 Flashman, admiring his wife: She was a soldier's wife, all right; pity she hadn't married a soldier.
