“"You had no choice, sir." "There's always a choice."”
Bernard Cornwell (1944) British writer
Lieutenant Robert Knowles and Captain Richard Sharpe on the destruction of Almieda's magazine, p. 239
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Gold (1981)
Source: Feet of Clay
“"You had no choice, sir." "There's always a choice."”
Bernard Cornwell (1944) British writer
Lieutenant Robert Knowles and Captain Richard Sharpe on the destruction of Almieda's magazine, p. 239
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Gold (1981)
Martin Joseph Routh (1755–1854) Classical scholar and college head
Advice given to Dean John William Burgon, (29 November 1847), in response to the question: "Every studious man, in the course of a long and thoughtful life, has had occasion to experience the special value of some one axiom or precept. Would you mind giving me the benefit of such a word of advice?"; quoted in Lives of twelve good men, by John William Burgon, 1888, vol. 1 p. 73.
“People always have bad news for you when they call you “sir.””
Rudy Rucker book Mathematicians in Love
Source: Mathematicians in Love (2006), Chapter 3, “Rocking with Washer Drop” (p. 101)
“No, sir. Go to hell sir. It's the best I can do for you sir.”
Jack London book Call of the Wild
Source: The Call of the Wild
P.G. Wodehouse book Right Ho, Jeeves
Like the latter, it seems to be tinged with a definite scepticism. It suggests a lack of faith in my vision. The impression I retain after hearing you shoot it at me a couple of times is that you consider me to be talking through the back of my neck, and that only a feudal sense of what is fitting restrains you from substituting for it the words 'Says you!'"
Source: Right Ho, Jeeves (1934)
“Sir, I have found you an argument; but I am not obliged to find you an understanding.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer
June 1784, p. 545
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol IV
Bernard Cornwell (1944) British writer
Sergeant Barret and Major Richard Sharpe, p. 273
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Honor (1985)