“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)

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 "Thank God for the hours of training, thank God that, for all its sometimes stupidity, the British army was the only arm…" by Bernard Cornwell?

Bernard Cornwell 175

British writer 1944

Related quotes

“Thank God for the French army.”

Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

When we read about Germany, when we watch with surprise and distress the tumultuous insurgence of ferocity and war spirit, the pitiless ill-treatment of minorities, the denial of the normal protections of civilised society to large numbers of individuals solely on the ground of race—when we see that occurring in one of the most gifted, learned, scientific and formidable nations in the world, one cannot help feeling glad that the fierce passions that are raging in Germany have not found, as yet, any other outlet but upon themselves. It seems to me that, at a moment like this, to ask France to halve her army while Germany doubles hers...to ask France to halve her air force while the German air force remains whatever it is...such a proposal, it seems to me, is likely to be considered by the French Government at present, at any rate, as somewhat unseasonable.
Speech https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1933/mar/23/european-situation#S5CV0276P0_19330323_HOC_299 in the House of Commons (23 March 1933) shortly after Hitler became Chancellor
The 1930s

“The level of any army's professionalism is determined not by the number of those recruited for professional service but by the level of the personnel's training, and its morale and readiness to shed blood for the homeland.”

Mikhail Khodaryonok (1954) Colonel of the Russian Armed Forces

“When a liberal is abused, he says, ‘Thank God they didn’t beat me.’ When he is beaten, he thanks God they didn’t kill him. When he is killed, he will thank God that his immortal soul has been delivered from its mortal clay.”

Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) Russian politician, led the October Revolution

“We must always remember to thank the CIA and the Army for LSD, by the way.”

John Lennon (1940–1980) English singer and songwriter

Source: The Beatles Anthology (2000), p. 179
Context: We must always remember to thank the CIA and the Army for LSD, by the way. Everything is the opposite of what it is, isn't it? They brought out LSD to control people, and what they did was give us freedom. Sometimes it works in mysterious ways its wonders to perform. But it sure as hell performs them. If you look a the government report book on acid, the only ones who jumped out of windows because of it were the ones in the Army. I never knew anybody who jumped out of a window or killed themselves because of it.

“The American soldier demonstrated that, properly equipped, trained and led, he has no superior among all the armies of the world.”

Lucian Truscott (1895–1965) Recipient of the Purple Heart medal

Quoted in Command Missions, A Personal Story, New York, 1954,
ISBN 0-89141-364-2

“God be thanked we were not bred up in that communion but are of a Church that is pious and sincere, and conformable in all its principles to the Scriptures. … the Church of England is, without all doubt, the only true Church.”

Anne of Great Britain (1665–1714) queen of England, queen of Scotland and queen of Ireland (1702–07); queen of Great Britain (1707–14)

Letter to her sister, Princess Mary (29 April 1686), from B. C. Brown (ed.), The Letters and Diplomatic Instructions of Queen Anne (1935), p. 16.

“Thank God for gay men. Thank God for gay men, because if it were not for gay men, I would not talk to men at all.”

Margaret Cho (1968) American stand-up comedian

From Her Tours and CDs, I'm The One That I Want Tour

“Truth is its [justice's] handmaid, freedom is its child, peace is its companion, safety walks in its steps, victory follows in its train; it is the brightest emanation from the Gospel; it is the attribute of God.”

Sydney Smith (1771–1845) English writer and clergyman

Vol. I, p. 29
Lady Holland's Memoir (1855), Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“We want to get our army involved with the people in productive work and remind it constantly that, without patriotic training, a soldier is only a criminal with power.”

Thomas Sankara (1949–1987) President of Upper Volta

From a speech to the United Nations on 4 October 1984 https://www.marxists.org/archive/sankara/1984/october/04.htm

“The nation, the nation sends its love and compassion for everybody who is here. Thank you for your hard work. Thank you for making the nation proud, and may God bless America.”

George W. Bush (1946) 43rd President of the United States

2000s, 2001, I Can Hear You, the Rest of the World Hears You (September 2001)

“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.”

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Bernard Cornwell 175

Related quotes

Related topics