Bernard Cornwell: Soldier

Bernard Cornwell is British writer. Explore interesting quotes on soldier.
Bernard Cornwell: 350 quotes1 like

“Patrick Harper was an Ulsterman from Donegal and had been driven into the ranks of Britain's army by hunger and poverty. He was a huge man, four inches taller than Sharpe who was himself six feet tall. In battle Harper was an awesome figure, yet in truth he was a kind, humorous and easygoing man whose benevolence disguised his life's central contradiction, which was that he had no love for the king for whom he fought and for the country whose flag he defended, yet there were few better soldiers in all King George's army, and none who was more loyal to his friends.”

Bernard Cornwell

Narrator, p. 19
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Battle (1995)

“Put a British Soldier in a wilderness and he would soon discover a taproom.”

Bernard Cornwell

Captain Richard Sharpe, p. 54
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Fury (2006)

“He had been a tough, cheerful youngster, the sort who collected birds' eggs, scrapped with other boys and climbed the church tower on a dare, and now he was a tough cheerful young man who thought that being an officer in Lawford's regiment was just about the finest thing life could afford. He liked soldiering and he liked soldiers.”

Bernard Cornwell

Lieutenant Jack Bullen, p. 307
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Escape (2003)

“A soldier's death, he thought, was a happy one, because a man, even in the throes of awful pain, would die in the best company of the world.”

Bernard Cornwell

General Thomas Graham, p. 234
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Fury (2006)

“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)

“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)

“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)

“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)

“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)

“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)

“"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)

“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)