Bernard Cornwell: Likeness (page 2)

“I do not approve of you, Thomas, and I do not approve of your woman, but nor can I approve of a Church that uses pain to bring the love of God to a sinful world. Evil begets evil, it spreads like a weed, but good works are tender shoots that need husbandry.”

Bernard Cornwell The Grail Quest

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

Love , God , Pain , World

“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)

Love , Men , Smile , Home

“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)

Men , God , Thinking

“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)

Justice

“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)

Confidence , Light , Chance , Success

“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)

God , World , Sun , Night

“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)

Men , Way , Sense

“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)

Chance

“"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)

Life , Thinking , Joy

“"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)

God , Dead

“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)

Women , Hate , Idea

“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)

Men , Loyalty

“"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)

“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)

Search

“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)

Men , War , Beauty , History