Famous quotes

Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,158,269 quotes Who coined it · How we decide

English Italiano Polski עברית Français Português فارسی Español 中文 Русский Deutsch العربية हिन्दी 日本語 Ελληνικά Latina

Bernard Cornwell

23 quotes

“Arthur Wellesley had waited six years for this moment. He was twenty-nine years old and had begun to fear that he would never see battle, but now, at last, he would discover whether he and his regiment could fight, and so he filled his lungs to give the order that would start the slaughter.”
Bernard Cornwell (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Sharpe had no thought of deserting now, for now he was about to fight. If there was any one good reason to join the army, it was to fight. Not to hurry up and do nothing, but to fight the King's enemies, and this enemy had been shocked by the awful violence of the close-range volley and now they stared in horror as the redcoats screamed and ran toward them.”
Bernard Cornwell (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Any officer given the money to buy promotion and lucky enough to possess relations who could put him in the way of advancement was bound to rise, but even the less fortunate men who resented Wellesley's privileges were forced to admit that the young Colonel had a natural and chilling authority, and maybe, some thought, even a talent for soldiering. He was certainly dedicated enough to his chosen trade if that was any sign of talent.”
Bernard Cornwell (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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.”
Bernard Cornwell (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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.”
Bernard Cornwell (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Tippoo himself led the defenders north of the breach. The Tippoo had cursed Gudin for blowing the mines too early and thus wasting its terrible destructive power, but now he tried to revive the defense by his personal example. He stood in the front rank of his soldiers while behind him a succession of aides loaded jewel-encrusted hunting rifles. One by one the rifles were given to the Tippoo who aimed and fired, aimed and fired, and redcoat after redcoat was struck down.”
Bernard Cornwell (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Look after him, Lieutenant. An army isn't made of its officers, you know, though we officers like to think it is. An army is no better than its men, and when you find good men, you must look after them. That's an officer's job.”
Bernard Cornwell (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Tippoo still led the fight. [...] Those gaudy stones made him a target for every redcoat and sepoy, yet he insisted on staying in the very front rank where he could pour his rifle fire at the stalled attackers, and his charms worked, for though the bullets flicked close none hit him. He was the Tiger of Mysore, he could not die, only kill.”
Bernard Cornwell (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You can keep your sword, for you fought proper. Like a proper soldier. Take your blade to paradise, and tell them you were killed by another proper soldier.”
Bernard Cornwell (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Never in my life have I seen two villages on opposite banks of a river that weren't connected by a ford.”
Bernard Cornwell (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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.”
Bernard Cornwell (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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.”
Bernard Cornwell (born 1944) first seen 1796 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: p. 207, Daniel Fletcher (describing his 1796 light cavalry sabre)
“Now we'll see how their infantry fight," Wellesley said savagely to Campbell, and Sharpe understood that this was the real testing point, for infantry was everything. The infantry was despised for it did not have the cavalry's glamour, nor the killing capacity of the gunners, but it was still the infantry that won battles. Defeat the enemy's infantry and the cavalry and gunners had nowhere to hide.”
Bernard Cornwell (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Hanoverian knew the cavalry was no danger. It was the infantry, the unstoppable red-jacketed infantry, that was going to beat him [...] He stared at the 78th and he reckoned that no force on earth could stop such men. "The best damn infantry on earth. Watch them! You'll not see better fighting men while you live!”
Bernard Cornwell (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our duty, Richard, is to be decorative and stay alive long enough to be promoted. But no one expects us to be useful! Good God! A junior officer being useful? That'll be the day.”
Bernard Cornwell (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You're a light company, and that means you can go where other soldiers can't. It makes you an elite. You know what that means? It means you're the best men in the bloody army, and right now the army needs its best men. It needs you.”
Bernard Cornwell (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The defenders were hunted down and killed. Even when they tried to surrender, they were killed, for their fortress had resisted and that was the fate of garrisons that showed defiance.”
Bernard Cornwell (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He had thought the army would pay for the voyage, but the army had refused, saying that Sharpe was accepting an invitation to join the 95th Rifles and if the 95th Rifles refused to pay his passage then damn them, damn their badly colored coats, and damn Sharpe. [...] Britain had sent Sharpe to India, and Britain, Sharpe reckoned, should fetch him back.”
Bernard Cornwell (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If you capture a ship, Sharpe, you keep the old name unless it's really obnoxious. Nelson took the Franklin at the Nile, an eighty gun thing of great beauty, but the navy will be damned if it has a ship named after a traitorous bloody Yankee so we call her the Canopus now.”
Bernard Cornwell (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You know what the trick of a long life is, Sharpe? Stay out of range.”
Bernard Cornwell (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Chase was easy in command and that ease did not diminish his authority, but simply made the men work harder. [...] Sharpe watched Chase for he reckoned he had still a lot to learn about the subtle business of leading men. He saw that the Captain did not secure his authority by recourse to punishment, but rather by expecting high standards and rewarding them. He also hid his doubts.”
Bernard Cornwell (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Forlorn Hope was for the brave. It may have been a courage born of desperation, or foolhardiness, but it was courage just the same. (pg. 13)”
Bernard Cornwell (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“'That's what it's about, Sharpe, trade. That's why you're fighting here, trade.'Sharpe grimaced. 'It seems a funny thing to be fighting about, sir.Does it?' McCandless seemed surprised. 'Not to me, Sharpe. Without trade there's no wealth, and without wealth there's no society worth having. Without trade, Private Sharpe, we'd be nothing but beasts in the mud. Trade is indeed worth fighting for, though the good Lord knows we don't appreciate trade much. We celebrate kings, we honour great men, we admire aristocrats, we applaud actors, we shower gold on portrait painters and we even, sometimes, reward soldiers, but we always despise merchants. But why? It's the merchant's wealth that drives the mills, Sharpe; it moves the looms, it keeps the hammers falling, it fills the fleets, it makes the roads, it forges the iron, it grows the wheat, it bakes the bread and it builds the churches and the cottages and the palaces. Without God and trade we would be nothing.'”
Bernard Cornwell (born 1944) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source