“Hatred the only moving force, a petulant unhappy striving - childhood the only happiness, and that unknowing; then the continual battle that cannot ever possibly be won; a losing fight against ill-health - poverty for nearly all. Life is a… — Patrick O'Brian Copy Share Image
“Christ's blood in heaven, you ignorant, incompetent whey-faced nestlecock, do you think I am a hired spy, an informer? That I have a master,… — Patrick O'Brian Copy Share Image
“To tell the truth, sir, I believe I had rather sit in the shelter for a while. The cabbage seems to have turned my inward parts to water.’ Nonsense,’ said Stephen, ‘it is the most wholesome cabbage I have ever come across in the whole of my career. I hope, Mr. Herapath, that you are not going to join in… — Patrick O'Brian Copy Share
“Never mind the disappointment. Salt water will wash it away. You will be amazed how unimportant it will seem in a week’s time –… — Patrick O'Brian Copy Share Image
“The weather had freshened almost to coldness, for the wind was coming more easterly, from the chilly currents between Tristan and the Cape; the sloth was amazed by the change; it shunned the deck and spent its time below. Jack was in his cabin, pricking the chart with less satisfaction than he could have wished: progress, slow, serious trouble with… — Patrick O'Brian Copy Share
“Of course I do know it is the French who are so wicked; but there are all these people who keep coming and going… — Patrick O'Brian Copy Share Image
My wife and I have spent most of our lives in France, and we are both pretty well bilingual, my wife more purely than… — Patrick O'Brian Copy Share Image
“This short watch that is about to come, or rather these two short watches--why are they called dog watches? Where, heu, heu, is the… — Patrick O'Brian Copy Share Image
The function of the novel is the exploration of the human condition. Really, that's what it's all about. — Patrick O'Brian Copy Share Image
It is a great while since I felt the grind of bone under my saw,' he added, smiling with anticipation. — Patrick O'Brian Copy Share Image
“But I will tell you another misery that is not to be denied. In the common, natural course of events physicians, surgeons and apothecaries are faced with enormous demands for sympathy: they may come into immediate contact with half a dozen deeply distressing cases in a single day. Those who are not saints are in danger of running out of… — Patrick O'Brian Copy Share
“Yet,'said Maturin, pursuing his own thought, 'there is a quality in dogs, I must confess, rarely to be seen elsewhere and that is affection: I do not mean the violent possessive protective love for their owner but rather that mild, steady attachment to their friends that we see quite often in the best sort of dog. And when you consider… — Patrick O'Brian Copy Share
