Sharpe quotes

Arthur Wellesley

I'm much obliged to you. You've done me a damn good turn. Now I'm going to do you a damn bad one. I'm giving you a field commission, Sharpe. As of now you're a lieutenant in the 95th!

What is that? Liquor? Liquor displeases the Lord. Give it here so I can destroy it.

Oh blimey, a bloody Methodist.

That's best brandy, sir.

Teresa

If you were French, I would take a knife and you would tell me all I wanted to know.

But we are allies.

Teresa

Allies? Do allies keep secrets from each other?

Lovers keep secrets from each other, yet they still make love.

Teresa

We have two ears, but only one mouth; so a good leader will listen twice as much as he shouts.

What've you got there Harper?

Just a wee wild bird.

Won't it fly away?

No. It trusts me.

But you're gonna put it in a cage.

It knows it'll get a few crumbs in a cage.

I thought wild things like their freedom.

Freedom to starve is no freedom.

Is that why you joined the British Army?

You fight dirty, Harper.

So do you, sir.

Hope you slept well, miss.

Teresa

I slept safely, thank you. [leaves]

Now there's a woman worth fighting dirty for, sir.

Can I ask you a question, sir? Where did you learn to fight so dirty, sir?

Same place as you, Cooper: Saturday night in the gutters.

Long way from home, sir.

Never was much of a home, Cooper.

No, sir. That it weren't.

Did you volunteer for this lot, Cooper?

Erm, no, not exactly, sir. I was "invited" to join... by a magistrate. [singing softly] Here's adieu to all judges and juries / justice and Old Bailey too / for they bound me to King George's army / so adieu to old England, adieu...

[singing softly] Now it's over the seas that I wander / to stand 'neath the red, white, and blue / for they gave me the old King's hard bargain / so adieu to old England, adieu...

You say you are an Irishman. Why should you be loyal to the British dogs, who want to take you to Lisbon to shoot you?

Jesus, you took the words right out of my mouth.

I can help you. Give me the box.

And if I do?

You will be rich.

And if I don't?

You will be dead.

Hmm... well, you're having the best of the argument so far.

I will give you 100 guineas- in gold- and safe passage to America.

America? That'd be nice. But you see, the King of England owes me last month's wages. There's no way I could rest easy in America knowin' that bastard owes me a schillin'.

You would die for a schilling?

That's what I signed on to do.

You will have to do it, then.

It's a grand day for it.

Gimme a pick-lock, Cooper.

Pick-lock, sir? Catch me with a pick-lock!

They did, Coop. But when you got out of Newgate prison, you got another set, and that's the one the officer wants.

Do I get it back, sir?

Trust me.

It's very hard to trust a man who wants to borrow your pick-lock, sir.

You'll make a grand killin' officer, sir.

Killin' officer?

Huh. You comin' up from the ranks, I thought you woulda known. There are two kinds of officers, sir: killin' officers and murderin' officers. Killin' officers are poor old buggers that get you killed by mistake. Murderin' officers are mad, bad, old buggers that get you killed on purpose - for a country, for a religion, maybe even for a flag. You see that Major Hogan, sir? That's what I call a murderin' officer.

Who fired that shot?

[looks him up and down] Give him yours, Harper.

[to Perkins] Take a tip Perkins, give it back.

Wellesley's gonna take the army into Spain. It'll be bugles, battles and bags of glory. Stick with me, Richard, I'll see you right.

You'll see me dead, sir.

[laughs] Oh, that's my boy.

Wellesley

Must be a damn good book, Hogan.

Shakespeare, sir. Julius Caesar. Mark Antony, "Lend me your ears," eh?

Wellesley

(reads over Hogan's shoulder) "These many, then, shall die. Their names are pricked." By God, Hogan, you may be sure my name is well-pricked by those needles at Horse Guards.

A general who wins battles and lives to claim the credit will never lack for enemies in London, sir.

Speaking as a Virginian, sir, I must say as how I don't hold with flogging white men, sir.

Colonel Simmerson

My dear Captain Leroy. You may be a loyalist, but you are still an American; you do not know the British soldier, sir. He is a brute beast in a red coat, he needs the lash!

They're flogged soldiers, sir. And flogging teaches a soldier only one lesson.

What's that, Richard?

How to turn his back.