Andrew Wareham > Quotes

“A release from great pain, Mr Harris. Had he been my dog I would have shot him weeks ago to put him out of his misery – why is it that we treat humans so much less kindly?” “I”
― Andrew Wareham, The Friendly Sea

“They view the government as their enemy, profit as their only friend – probably do not even see themselves as the traitors they are.”
― Andrew Wareham, The Fuzzy-Wuzzy Man

“Beaufort Scale Five, I would say, Naseby. Moderate to fresh breeze. Ideal for a sailing frigate, they always said at Dartmouth. Spent a lot of time teaching us how a frigate should be sailed, and how to defeat the big Americans…” Peter showed blank. “The War of 1812, you know, Naseby? Captain in my time there was sure he could have done better, spent hours in the classroom explaining it. Fifteen years ago and not a sailing ship left in the Navy, but he did not seem to have noticed that. What he would have said to our blimps, I’m damned if I know!”
― Andrew Wareham, The Balloonatics: A Tale of the Great War

“I had rather water in a port than from some uncertain creek or river on the Malay coast where for all you know there is a village hidden a mile upriver and crapping in it.”
― Andrew Wareham, The Fuzzy-Wuzzy Man

“Langrage was basically shards of cast or wrought iron, jagged-edged, parcelled up much like chain, used in the smaller bore cannon where chain was impractical; it had become much less popular in recent years, probably as much through fashion as logical argument.”
― Andrew Wareham, The Bitter Land

“The more the bullshit, the less the action as a rule,”
― Andrew Wareham, The Death of Hope

“The Kaiser was Royalty, with a capital ‘R’, being Queen Victoria’s grandson. As such, he could not, by definition, be insane. The Kaiser was also the leader of the Huns and was obviously crazy as a loon. That being the case, he was quite mad. It was not easy to be mad while being sane, but it was absolutely essential that he should be both. He wondered what the Daily Mail had to say on the topic.”
― Andrew Wareham, Armageddon, Second Class

“London was full of foreign names, often possessed by young men with very English accents.”
― Andrew Wareham, The Pinchbeck Peer: Book 2

“From all his father had said, the newspapers in his time had always been careful to discover the truth so that they should not inadvertently print it.”
― Andrew Wareham, The Gathering Clouds

“The Long Nine was a thirty two pound cannon with a nine foot barrel, slowly bored from a single block on the new steam-powered lathes available”
― Andrew Wareham, The Friendly Sea

“You must win general elections. Having done so, you can ignore the masses for the next three or four years,”
― Andrew Wareham, The Death of Hope

“There were few avenues of appeal against a declaration of madness – the law holding that the madman was by his nature incapable of the rational decision to take legal action”
― Andrew Wareham, Half a Victory

“Whatever else we do, Moorman, we must always control the great mass of the people. They cannot be trusted without restraint.”
― Andrew Wareham, The Land Makes The Lord

“Mothersole”
― Andrew Wareham, A Brutal War

“Purser has shown his face, sir. He has examined his domain and declared it secure and will bring his slops aboard this day. His name is Roberts and he informs me he is an attorney-at-law by trade, but making only a poor living in the legal business, took to the sea some ten years ago and is most satisfied with his new way of life. He told me that Portsmouth must have fifty attorneys, at a minimum, plying their trade and seeking clients and only a very few of them prospering, which surprised me greatly, sir. One does not conceive of a poor lawyer of whatever sort.”
― Andrew Wareham, High on the List

“provided only he knew what to expect. The trader who guessed wrongly what”
― Andrew Wareham, The Man From Bere

“Fever coast, Mr Forshaw – mangrove swamp and mud. Not worth it.” They kept a distance off the reef, well out of mosquito range.”
― Andrew Wareham, The Fuzzy-Wuzzy Man

“He had never appreciated just how much the unwashed human smelt previously, was surprised to find himself offended by mere odours.”
― Andrew Wareham, No Peace Beyond The Line

“As it is a known fact that all queers are cowards, put him in danger’s way and see what he does – if he shows brave, then he must have been falsely smeared by those who simply did not like him.”
― Andrew Wareham, Falling Into Battle

“Countries rise to power and then fall into triviality.”
― Andrew Wareham, Nobody’s Child

“Luckily, American politicians tend to be cheaply bought and we have been able to outbid the Kaiser.”
― Andrew Wareham, Bloody Hands

“The law is owned by the rich and applied to the poor,”
― Andrew Wareham, The Pinchbeck Peer: Book 3

“Most children learn only to read and write badly and nothing else at all. They waste their time. Far better off as apprentices and learning how to make a living.”
― Andrew Wareham, Rovers of the Western Sea

“Davidson was in the bows with the master’s night-glass, a short telescope with lenses of a broader than normal diameter to collect all of the available light. In some circumstances the night-glass could be a useful aid.”
― Andrew Wareham, Fortune And Glory

“religion is for the poor, not the rich and powerful.”
― Andrew Wareham, Foreign Mud

“It gives one a reason to fight the French, certainly, sir.” “I have never needed a reason, Mr Murray – it has always seemed the most natural of occupations to me. I have come to believe that the French were created merely so that the pugnacious English would have a legitimate target for their aggression.”
― Andrew Wareham, Sugar and Spice

“Have we got a room for them?” “We have. But not here. On the kibbutz. A couple of their girls have taken them over. Reliable people. They will be right.” “They may well need be. Have we got time to get up this afternoon? What time is nightfall here?” “You’ve got two hours, Thomas.” “Not enough by the time we’ve changed into flying gear and got back here. Cockpit familiarisation only. How are you off for ground crew?” “Two flight sergeants and a sufficiency of aircraftmen of all grades. All of them have worked Hurricanes before. Three of them were with you, in fact, in the Desert. That’s one area in which we have not been let down. I have painted the planes up in three Flights, numbers and colours. Serial numbers are on as well. You are Red One, I presume?” “I am. Jack is Green One. Patrick Red Two. Michael, Blue Two.” “Got you. Let’s get you sitting in. We can get the belts right and adjust the seats. I’ll put a parachute pack in each.” The smell was immediately familiar – glycol and petrol predominating, a faint overlay of sweat. Thomas sat in and instinctively set the seat just so and twitched the belts exactly as he wanted them. He glanced at the controls and examined the screen in front of him for specks and cracks. “Flight! There’s a grease smear lower left and what looks like a row of paint specks across the right.” “Let me see… Got ‘em, sir! Balderstone, you ‘orrible object! You was told to clean the screen and polish it good!” “Told us to get it done afore us were finished, Sarge. Ain’t finished yet!” “You bloody well will be if this screen is not perfect one hour from now!” “Yes, Sarge.” “A useless object, sir, but he was a window cleaner before he got called up. One thing, the only thing, he can do, is clean a screen.” “Get him to work them all then, Flight. The screens must be spotless, you know that. A Me at two thousand yards looks like nothing more than a spot.” “Knows that, sir. Not to worry, sir. Mr Mason-Holmes a little bit new, is he, sir?” “Green as grass. Don’t worry about him. Either he’ll learn quickly or…” “Exactly, sir. He’ll be a veteran at the end of the week or we won’t have to concern ourselves about him.” Thomas nodded. They looked at Patrick and shrugged simultaneously. “Now then, sir. We have twelve ground crews exactly, one for each pilot, and likely one spare by the end of the week for rotation purposes.” “I’ll leave that with you, Flight. Don’t let your people get too tired. If needs be, I can ground”
― Andrew Wareham, Nothing Forgotten, Nothing Learned: The Fall of Singapore

“It was easy to imagine longbowmen cutting their staves from that tree before marching off to Crecy and Agincourt, and still the job was not done, still the French needed to be reminded of their essential inferiority – perhaps they were just slow learners. The”
― Andrew Wareham, The Bitter Land

“will be different”
― Andrew Wareham, A Wretched Victory

“Ship sinks or you falls overboard, all swimming’s going to do is make it take longer to drown.”
― Andrew Wareham, The Man From Bere