“Elgin himself looked ten years younger, now that he’d cast the die, but I thought exuberance had got the better of him when he strode into the saloon later, threw The Origin of Species on the table and announced: "It’s… — George MacDonald Fraser Copy Share Image
“In her, ignorance and stupidity formed a perfect shield against the world: this, I suppose, is innocence. It” — George MacDonald Fraser Copy Share Image
“You never know what to expect on encountering royalty. I've seen 'em stark naked except for wings of peacock feathers (Empress of China), giggling drunk in the embrace of a wrestler (Maharani of the Punjab), voluptuously wrapped in wet silk (Queen of Madagascar), wafting to and fro on a swing (Rani of Jhansi), and tramping along looking like an out-of-work… — George MacDonald Fraser Copy Share
“I think little of people who will deny their history because it doesn't present the picture they would like.” — George MacDonald Fraser Copy Share Image
“The advantage to being a wicked bastard is that everyone pesters the Lord on your behalf; if volume of prayers from my saintly enemies… — George MacDonald Fraser Copy Share Image
“...and suddenly, without the slightest volition on my part, there was the most crashing discharge of wind, like the report of a mortar. My horse started; Cardigan jumped in his saddle, glaring at me…Be Silent! snaps he, and he must have been in a highly nervous condition himself, otherwise he would never have added, in a hoarse whipser: Can you… — George MacDonald Fraser Copy Share
“Walking the plank is a Victorian fiction, and I will not have it on my ship!” — George MacDonald Fraser Copy Share Image
“I was sufficiently recovered from my nervous condition – or else the booze was beginning to work – to be able to discuss with Rudi the merits of checked or striped trousers, which had been the great debate among the London nobs that year. I was a check-er myself, having the height and leg for it, but Rudi thought they… — George MacDonald Fraser Copy Share
There's a point, you know, where treachery is so complete and unashamed that it becomes statesmanship. — George MacDonald Fraser Copy Share Image
“We stood there for a full half hour, like so many scarecrows, while they jeered at us from a distance, and one or two… — George MacDonald Fraser Copy Share Image
I'm as religious as the next man - which is to say I'll keep in with the local parson for form's sake and read… — George MacDonald Fraser Copy Share Image
I've been a Danish prince, a Texas slave-dealer, an Arab sheik, a Cheyenne Dog Soldier, and a Yankee navy lieutenant in my time, among… — George MacDonald Fraser Copy Share Image
“Thats what you young chaps have to remember. When u run, RUN! Full speed. Don't dither or dally even for an instant. let terror… — George MacDonald Fraser Copy Share Image
