Patrick O'Brian

“Come all you thoughtless young men, a warning take by me And never leave your happy homes to sail the raging sea.”

— Patrick O'Brian

I have never written for an audience. On the other hand I do not write merely to please myself.

— Patrick O'Brian

For a moment Jack felt the strongest inclination to snatch up his little gilt chair and beat the white-faced man down with…

— Patrick O'Brian

“Oh, what is that bird?' 'It is a wheatear. We have seen between two and three hundred since we set out, and…

— Patrick O'Brian

I have often observed that extremely violent noise and activity go with good-fellowship and heightened spirits.

— Patrick O'Brian

I very much dislike being interviewed by the kind of journalist who tries to dig into your private life.

— Patrick O'Brian

The function of the novel is the exploration of the human condition. Really, that's what it's all about.

— Patrick O'Brian

“The newly-minted captain is told to let nothing stop him but to do nothing that would risk his ship or his crew.”

— Patrick O'Brian

“Christ's blood in heaven, you ignorant, incompetent whey-faced nestlecock, do you think I am a hired spy, an informer? That I have…

— Patrick O'Brian

“Oh, the odious wench. How I wish I were rid of her. I have always loathed women, from clew to earring; hook,…

— Patrick O'Brian

The first interviews I gave were entirely unpleasant. You have people trying to trip you up with impolite questions that have nothing…

— Patrick O'Brian

For me the process works best with no interruptions, no breaks in the steady application, no letters to be answered, very little…

— Patrick O'Brian

“You are a reasonably civil, complaisant creature on dry land,' said Stephen, 'but the moment you are afloat you become pragmatical and…

— Patrick O'Brian

Since I grew up, I have never deliberately used any technique at all other than the physical shaping of my tale so…

— Patrick O'Brian

“I am not master of words to tell you, Jack, the value of an exceedingly remote island to a naturalist, an uninhabited…

— Patrick O'Brian

“But you know as well as I, patriotism is a word; and one that generally comes to mean either my country, right…

— Patrick O'Brian

“Jack was already mother-naked when he heard the cry and saw the splash. He slipped from the gunwale into the clear water,…

— Patrick O'Brian

“It’s all along of the unicorn’s horn – it’s all along of the glorious hand. Huzzay, three times huzzay for the doctor!’…

— Patrick O'Brian

“Preserved Killick, Captain Aubrey’s steward, an ill-faced, ill-tempered, meagre, atrabilious, shrewish man who kept his officer’s uniform, equipment and silver in a…

— Patrick O'Brian

“Oh well,' said Jack: and then, 'Did you ever meet Bach?' 'Which Bach?' 'London Bach.' 'Not I.' 'I did. He wrote some…

— Patrick O'Brian

“To tell the truth, sir, I believe I had rather sit in the shelter for a while. The cabbage seems to have…

— Patrick O'Brian

“But I will tell you another misery that is not to be denied. In the common, natural course of events physicians, surgeons…

— Patrick O'Brian

...I have had such a sickening of men in masses, and of causes, that I would not cross this room to reform…

— Patrick O'Brian

“She then recovered her wits and averting her eyes from the wreck of her house she shook Babbington's hand, embraced Stephen tenderly,…

— Patrick O'Brian

“Well, I will wear the bees, like Damon and Pythagoras – ho, a mere sixty thousand bees in the cabin don't signify, much.”

— Patrick O'Brian

In a day when, if you insulted a man it might cost you your life, you were probably more civil.

— Patrick O'Brian

Stephen had spared no expense in making himself more unhappy, his own position as a rejected lover clearer.

— Patrick O'Brian

There is a systematic flocci-nauci-nihili-pilification of all other aspects of existence that angers me.

— Patrick O'Brian

On a ship, everything is enclosed: the people are right on top of each other and can't get up and walk away.

— Patrick O'Brian

“Puddings, my dear sir?' cried Graham. Puddings. We trice 'em athwart the starboard gumbrils, when sailing by and large.”

— Patrick O'Brian

“If I were a woman I should march out with a flaming torch and a sword; I should emasculate right and left.”

— Patrick O'Brian

Take a newspaper account of Waterloo or Trafalgar, with all the small advertisements: it seems much more real than reading about it…

— Patrick O'Brian

“He considered old age and its mutilations and wondered what it would do for him: examples presented themselves to his mind, not…

— Patrick O'Brian

My wife and I have spent most of our lives in France, and we are both pretty well bilingual, my wife more…

— Patrick O'Brian

“What I meant was that if he could induce others to believe what he said, then for him the statement acquired some…

— Patrick O'Brian

“This short watch that is about to come, or rather these two short watches--why are they called dog watches? Where, heu, heu,…

— Patrick O'Brian

Touch and away, Jack?’ asked Stephen. ‘Touch and away? Do you not recall that I have important business there? Enquiries of the…

— Patrick O'Brian

My dear creature, I have done with all debate. But you know as well as I, patriotism is a word; and one…

— Patrick O'Brian

A freewheeling mind can conceive a virtually infinite number of sequences, but just how that mind picks out and stores those that…

— Patrick O'Brian

Sir,’ said Stephen, ‘I read novels with the utmost pertinacity. I look upon them--I look upon good novels--as a very valuable part…

— Patrick O'Brian