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Bernard Cornwell Quotes
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Bernard Cornwell, is an English author of historical novels and a history of the Waterloo Campaign. He is best known for his novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe. He has written historical novels primarily on English history in five series, and one series of contemporary thriller novels. A feature of his historical novels is an end note on how they match or differ from history, and what one might see at the modern sites of the battles described. He wrote a nonfiction book on the battle of Waterloo, in addition to the fictional story of the famous battle in the Sharpe Series. Two of the historical novel series have been adapted for television: the Sharpe television series by ITV and The Last Kingdom by BBC. He lives in the US with his wife, alternating between Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and Charleston, South Carolina. Wikipedia  

✵ 23. February 1944  •  Other names برنارد کرنول
Bernard Cornwell photo
Bernard Cornwell: 175 quotes1 like

Bernard Cornwell Quotes

“I think the Holy Grail is a dream that men have, a dream that the world can be made perfect. And if it existed, then we'd all know the dream can't come true.”

Bernard Cornwell The Grail Quest

Thomas of Hookton, p. 192
The Grail Quest, Heretic (2003)

“He was a soldier and he marched where he was ordered to march and he killed the king's enemies when he arrived. That was his job and the army was his home and he loved both even though he knew he would have to fight like a gutter-born bastard for every step of advancement that other men took for granted. And he knew too that he would never be prized for his birth or his wit or his wealth, but would only be reckoned as good as his last fight, but that thought made him smile. For Sharpe's last battle had been against the best soldier France had and Sharpe had drowned the bastard like a rat. Sharpe had won, Loup was dead, and it was over at last: Sharpe's battle.”

Bernard Cornwell

Captain Richard Sharpe, p. 354
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Battle (1995)

“"It is you, sir?" "Sergeant Barret, isn't it?" "Yes, sir." "It is me" They bloody hung you, sir." "This army can't do anything right, Sergeant."”

Bernard Cornwell

Sergeant Barret and Major Richard Sharpe, p. 273
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Honor (1985)

“The Grail is like God. It is everywhere, all around us, obvious, but we refuse to see it. Men think they can only see God when they build a great church and fill it with gold and silver statues, but all they need do is look. The Grail exists, Thomas, you just need to open your eyes.”

Bernard Cornwell The Grail Quest

Genevieve, p. 103
The Grail Quest, Heretic (2003)

“Here, in this filthy stench of powder smoke, he felt at home. Other men learned how to plough fields or to shape wood, but Sharpe had learned how to use a musket or rifle, sword or bayonet, and how to turn an enemy's flank or assault a fortress.”

Bernard Cornwell

Lieutenant Richard Sharpe, p. 69
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Rifles (1988)

“It ain't justice, Richard, but politics, and like all politics it ain't pretty, but well done it can work wonders.”

Bernard Cornwell

Major Michael Hogan, p. 172
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Battle (1995)

“Take a man who has failed at everything, give him a final chance, show him trust, lead him to one success, and there is a sudden confidence that will lead to the next success. Soon they will believe they are unbeatable, and become unbeatable, but the trick was to have officers like Sharpe who kept on offering trust. Of course the Light Company missed him! He had expected great things of them and trusted them to win.”

Bernard Cornwell

Sergeant Patrick Harper, p. 122
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Company (1982)

“If he had learned one thing as a Soldier it was that any decision, even a bad one, was better than none.”

Bernard Cornwell

Lieutenant Richard Sharpe, p. 130
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Rifles (1988)

“I've killed priests before, and another priest sold me an indulgence for the killings, so don't think I fear you or your Church. There's no sin that can't be bought off, no pardon that can't be purchased.”

Bernard Cornwell The Grail Quest

Sir William Douglas, to Bernard de Taillebourg of the Inquisition, p. 17
The Grail Quest, Vagabond (2002)

“We'll need all the officers we can get then, and then you'll get your chance. You might be a quartermaster now, but ten years from now you'll be leading a battalion, so just be patient.”

Bernard Cornwell

Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Prey (2001)

“This was the might of France, the pride of France, the tactic of the world's first conscript army, and this column, Clausel's counter-attack, ignored cold mathematical logic. It was not defeated by the line.”

Bernard Cornwell

Narrator, p. 253
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Sword (1983)

“… a newly raised unit of young men fresh from the depots of France, and they were half-trained, ill disciplined, resentful of an Emperor who had marched them off to a war they mostly did not understand and, above all, hungry.”

Bernard Cornwell

Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Escape (2003)

“You may call me doctor. You won't, of course. You'll call me damned Jew, a Christ murderer, a secret worshipper of pigs and a kidnapper of Christian children. How absurd! Who would want to kidnap children, Christian or otherwise? Vile things. The only mercy of children is that they grow up, as my son has but then, tragically, they beget more children. We do not learn lifes lessons.”

Bernard Cornwell The Grail Quest

Doctor Mordecai
The Grail Quest, The Archer's Tale/Harlequin (2000)

“When God made the world he made the big plain just for the cavalry. It was firm, or would be when the sun had dried off the night's rain, and it was mostly level. The sabres could fall like scythes in the corn. The Arapiles, Greater and Lesser, God made for the gunners. From their summits, conveniently made flat so that the artillery could have a stable platform, the guns could dominate the plain. God had made nothing for the infantry, except a soil easily dug into graves, but the infantry were used to that.”

Bernard Cornwell

Narrator, p. 234
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Sword (1983)

“You know what the trick of a long life is, Sharpe? Stay out of range.”

Bernard Cornwell

Doctor Pickering, p. 133
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Trafalgar (2000)

“There are rules, orders, regulations, Sharpe, by which our lives are conducted. If we ignore those rules, burdensome though they may be, then we open the gates to anarchy and tyranny; the very things against which we fight!”

Bernard Cornwell

Lieutenant Colonel Brian Windham, p. 104
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Company (1982)

“They were outnumbered, they were surrounded, yet no one had panicked, not one battalion had been caught deployed in column, and not one square had been rattled by the horse-men's proximity. The Light had saved the Seventh Division, and now it was saving itself with a dazzling display of professional soldiering. Pure drill was defeating French verve, and Massena's attack, which had swept around the British right flank with overwhelming force, had been rendered utterly impotent.”

Bernard Cornwell

Narrator, describing the actions of the British Light Division during the Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro, p. 319
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Battle (1995)

“There are men in Spain who need me, who trust me. They're not special men, they wouldn't look very well in Carlton House, but they are fighting for all of you. That's why I'm here.”

Bernard Cornwell

Major Richard Sharpe, p. 53
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Regiment (1986)

“"Nondum amabam, et amare amabam. I did not love, but yearned to love." "A very elaborate way of saying you're lonely."”

Bernard Cornwell The Grail Quest

Thomas of Hookton and Eleanor, p. 235
The Grail Quest, The Archer's Tale/Harlequin (2000)

“Never in my life have I seen two villages on opposite banks of a river that weren't connected by a ford.”

Bernard Cornwell

Major General Arthur Wellesley, p. 196
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Triumph (1997)

“He had trampled through Italy winning victory after victory, he had smashed the Russians on the border of Switzerland and rammed bloody defeat down Austrian throats before Marengo. Marshall André Masséna, Duke of Rivoli and Prince of Essling, was not a pretty soldier, but by God, he knew how to fight, which was why, at fifty-two years old, he had been sent to retrieve the disasters besetting the emporer's armies in Spain and Portugal.”

Bernard Cornwell

Narrator, describing Marshal André Masséna, p. 265
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Battle (1995)

“"If you believe in a God, miss, pray now." "You don't?" "I believe in the Baker rifle and in the 1796 Pattern heavy cavalry sword, so long as you grind down the back blade so that the point don't slide off a Frog's ribs. If you you don't grind down the back blade, miss, then you might as well just beat the bastards to death with it."”

Bernard Cornwell

Captain Richard Sharpe and Miss Sarah Fry, p. 205
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Escape (2003)

“But the implication of the psalm, is it not, is that we are sheep and that God is our shepherd? Why else would He put us in a pasture and protect us with a staff? But what I have never fully understood is why the shepherd blames the sheep when they become ill.”

Bernard Cornwell The Grail Quest

Abbott Planchard, p. 212
The Grail Quest, Heretic (2003)

“Unfairness existed, it always had and it always would, and the miracle, to Sharpe's eyes, was that some men like Hill and Wellesley, though they had become wealthy and privileged through unfair advantages, were nevertheless superb at what they did. […] Sharpe did not care that Sir Arthur Wellesley was the son of an aristocrat and had purchased his way up the ladder of promotion and was as cold as a lawyer's sense of charity. The long-nosed bugger knew how to win and that was what mattered.”

Bernard Cornwell

Lieutenant Richard Sharpe, p. 234
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Havoc (2003)

“Sharpe bellowed in anger, the war shout. They thought him weak and beaten, but he had one fight in him and they would learn what a Rifleman was in a fight.”

Bernard Cornwell

Narrator, p. 186
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Honor (1985)

“A man could fight bullets and bayonets, even rockets if he understood the weapon, but no man understood the invisible enemies. Sharpe wished he knew how to propitiate Fate, the soldiers' Goddess, but She was a capricious deity, without loyalty.”

Bernard Cornwell

Major Richard Sharpe, p. 311
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Enemy (1984)

“Can't help our damned parents which is why we have to thrash our damned children”

Bernard Cornwell

Major General Nairn, p. 21
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Enemy (1984)

“There's no chance of cheering him up, sir. He likes being miserable, so he does, and the bastard will get over it.”

Bernard Cornwell

Sergeant Patrick Harper to Lieutenant Robert Knowles, regarding Captain Sharpe's grumpy attitude, p. 9
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Gold (1981)

“Thank God for the hours of training, thank God that, for all its sometimes stupidity, the British army was the only army that trained its infantry with real ammunition.”

Bernard Cornwell

Narrator, p. 283
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Enemy (1984)

“I'll put a word in for you, Sharpe, because a man shouldn't be disciplined for killing the enemy, but I don't suppose my help will do you any good.”

Bernard Cornwell

Brigadier General Robert Craufurd, p. 319
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Battle (1995)

“What did he want? A tournament? Who does he think we are? The knights of the round bloody table? I don't know what happens to some folk. They put a sir in front of their names and their brains get addled. Fighting fair! Whoever heard of anything so daft? Fight fair and you lose.”

Bernard Cornwell The Grail Quest

Will Skeat, p. 94
The Grail Quest, The Archer's Tale/Harlequin (2000)

“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

Narrator, commenting on Colonel Arthur Wellesley, p. 103
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Tiger (1997)

“"Don't waste your life, Tom." "I think I already have, father." "You're just young. It seems like that when you're young. Life's nothing but joy or misery when you're young."”

Bernard Cornwell The Grail Quest

Thomas of Hookton and Father Hobbe, p. 140
The Grail Quest, The Archer's Tale/Harlequin (2000)

“"Why do they call them vaulters?" "Vaulters?" "Voltigeur, Sharpe. French for vaulter." "God knows, sir." "Because the jump like fleas, sir, when you shoot at them. But don't worry yourself about that one, sir. He's a good voltigeur, that one. He's dead."”

Bernard Cornwell

Colonel Claud Runciman, Captain Richard Sharpe, and Sergeant Patrick Harper, p. 331
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Battle (1995)

“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.”

Bernard Cornwell

Narrator, p. 13
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Company (1982)

“My God, but I command King Ferdinand's guard and-" "And King Ferdinand, sir, is a prisoner! Which does not speak, sir, for the efficacy of his guard.”

Bernard Cornwell

Lord Kiely and Major General Arthur Wellesley, p. 218
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Battle (1995)

“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.”

Bernard Cornwell

Narrator, p. 238
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Sword (1983)

“They like the idea of recusing women. […] Everyone hates the bloody army till someone needs rescuing, then we're all bloody heroes and white knights.”

Bernard Cornwell

Captain William Frederickson, p. 100
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Enemy (1984)

“Sharpe wanted to be liked by the men under his command. He was tempted to believe that if he was friendly and approachable, reasonable and kind, then his men would follow him more willingly. But kindness was not the wellspring of loyalty and he knew the temptation had to be resisted.”

Bernard Cornwell

Major Richard Sharpe, p. 94
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Enemy (1984)

“"You know how to deal with senior officers?" "Respectfully." "Confuse them. Except for the ones who can't be confused, like Wellington."”

Bernard Cornwell

Lieutenant Jorge Vicente and Captain Richard Sharpe, p. 176
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Escape (2003)

“…all battles had to be fought one step at a time. No point in worrying about the future if there was to be no future, so he and and Harper worked patiently away.”

Bernard Cornwell

Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Escape (2003)

“"I assume I'm expendable, sir." "You're a soldier, aren't you? Of course you're expendable!" Sharpe was still smiling. He was a soldier, and a lady needed recuing, and was that not what soldiers throughout history had done?”

Bernard Cornwell

Captain Richard Sharpe and Major General Nairn, p. 49
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Enemy (1984)

“You're a light company, and that means you can go where other Soldier's 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

Ensign Richard Sharpe to the Light Company of the 33rd Regiment of Foot, p. 261
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Fortress (1999)

“We have to level the ground, Sir, because God didn't think of gunners when he made the world. He made too many lumps and not enough smooth spots. But we're very good at improving His handiwork, sir.”

Bernard Cornwell

Lieutenant Pelletieu, French Artillery, p. 153
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Havoc (2003)

“All the glory and the valor and the splendor of a royal world are about to become commonplace and tawdry. All the nasty, mean things-republicanism, democracy, equality-are crawling into the light and claiming that they can replace a lineage of great kings. We are seeing the end of history, Sharpe, and the beginnings of chaos, but maybe, just maybe, King Ferdinand's household guard can bring the curtain down with one last act of shining glory.”

Bernard Cornwell

Lord Kiely, p. 89
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Battle (1995)

“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.”

Bernard Cornwell

Captain Lossow, King's German Legion, p. 22
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Sword (1983)

“The Major was a courteous man, judicious and sensible, but he doubted the fighting efficiency of the South Essex would be improved by a campaign to improve its manners.”

Bernard Cornwell

Major Joseph Forrest, p. 148
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Escape (2003)

“He watched his men work, proud of them. They were disciplined, protecting one another, their sword drill immaculate and thorough, and Lossow knew why the lord Wellington preferred German cavalry. Not as flashy as the English, not as good for a parade, but for killing Frenchmen-they were as good as British infantry at that. [.. ] This army, Wellington's army, could be as perfect an instrument of war as any in history. With men like these horsemen and with that infantry? It was beautiful!”

Bernard Cornwell

Captain Lossow, Cavalry Officer of the King's German Legion, p. 173
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Gold (1981)

“Death was so channeled and directed by this staircase, yet Sharpe had learned that the steps a man feared most were the ones that had to be taken. He climbed.”

Bernard Cornwell

Narrator, p. 168
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Enemy (1984)

“And the good news is that you've got a brain. You do! Honest! I saw it with my own eyes, thus disproving the navy's stubborn contention that soldiers have nothing whatsoever inside their skulls. I shall write a paper for the Review.”

Bernard Cornwell

I'll be famous! Brain discovered in a soldier.
Doctor Jethro McCann, to Captain Richard Sharpe, after sewing up a severe head wound, p. 78
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Fury (2006)