“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.”

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

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "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 …" by Bernard Cornwell?

Bernard Cornwell175

British writer 1944

Related quotes

“A soldier is a man who knows he's being lead to his death but keeps going because it's an order.”

Suraj Sani (1996) Nigerian writer, Spoken word artist

Source: Quotes from Roses in The desert, P. 31.

“He that always waits upon God is ready whenever He calls. Neglect not to set your accounts even; he is a happy man who to lives as that death at all times may find him at leisure to die.”

Owen Feltham (1602–1668) English writer

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 180.

“Even if times got bad, he would never again deny himself the possibility that the future might be happy even if the present was painful. He would allow himself dreams.”

Suzanne Collins book Gregor the Overlander

Source: Gregor the Overlander

“I thank you sir for your generous sympathy, but I die the death I always prayed for, the death of a soldier fighting for the rights of man.”

Johann de Kalb (1721–1780) American general

To a British military officer (August 1780), as quoted in Washington and the Generals of the American Revolution (1856), by Rufus Wilmot Griswold, William Gilmore Simms, and Edward Duncan Ingraham. J.B. Lippincott, p. 271. Also quoted in "Death of Baron De Kalb" https://books.google.com/books?id=k2QAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA234&lpg=PA234&dq=%22I+thank+you+sir+for+your+generous+sympathy,+but+I+die+the+death+I+always+prayed+for:+the+death+of+a+soldier+fighting+for+the+rights+of+man%22&source=bl&ots=-93hJzoCYU&sig=tAag8ObQI-ZjiII56viczov02wM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=VlYVVcuJI4KmNsazgYgL&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22I%20thank%20you%20sir%20for%20your%20generous%20sympathy%2C%20but%20I%20die%20the%20death%20I%20always%20prayed%20for%3A%20the%20death%20of%20a%20soldier%20fighting%20for%20the%20rights%20of%20man%22&f=false (1849), by Benjamin Franklin Ells, The Western Miscellany, Volume 1, p. 233. These were reportedly his last words. 1780s

“A good death. Well, he thought, given that you had to die, why want a bad one?”

Iain Banks Culture series

Source: Culture series, Matter (2008), Chapter 27 “The Core” (p. 551)

“Song, if you find a man at peace with love,
say: 'Die while you're happy,
since early death is no grief, but a refuge:
and he who can die well, should not delay.”

Francesco Petrarca Il Canzoniere

Canzon, s'uom trovi in suo amor viver queto, di': Muor' mentre se' lieto, ché morte al tempo è non duol, ma refugio; et chi ben pò morir, non cerchi indugio. Canzone 331, st. 6 ( tr. A. S. Kline http://petrarch.petersadlon.com/canzoniere.html?poem=331) Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Death