Master and Commander (Aubrey & Maturin, #1)

by Patrick O'Brian

“More of these damned Irish Papists; at this rate half the starboard watch will be made up of them, and we shall not be able to get by for beads” – meaning it pleasantly, you know.

One of my very best friends – you would not believe how kind – was so upset when her mother married one that she took to mathematics and Hebrew directly

It was a ham that could only have come from a hog with a long-borne crippling disease, the sort of ham that is reserved for officers who buy their own provisions;