The Hundred Days Quotes

“Wit is the unexpected copulation of ideas.”
― Patrick O'Brian, The Hundred Days

“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 state of exact, old-maidish order come wind or high water, and who did the same for Aubrey’s close friend and companion, Dr Stephen Maturin, or even more so, since in the Doctor’s case Killick added a fretful nursemaid quality to his service, as though Maturin were “not quite exactly” a fully intelligent being, approached Stephen’s cabin. It is true that in the community of mariners the “not quite exactly” opinion was widely held; for although Stephen could now tell the difference between starboard and larboard, it still called for some reflection: and it marked the limit of his powers.”
― Patrick O'Brian, The Hundred Days

“Jack, I must tell you in your private ear that we have some allies ashore, rather curious allies, I admit, who look after these operations: I hope and trust that you will see many another yard burnt or burning before we reach Durazzo. I am aware that this is not your kind of war, brother: it is not glorious. Yet as you see, it is effective.’ ‘Do not take me for a bloody-minded man, Stephen, a death-or-glory swashbuckling cove. Believe me, I had rather see a first-rate burnt to the water-line than a ship’s boy killed or mutilated.”
― Patrick O'Brian, The Hundred Days

“His interest in food, however, was as eager as Jack’s, in spite of his age; and after a while he said in a voice of real authority, ‘The French may say what they please, and Apicius, with his slave-fed moray eels, was no doubt very well; but it seems to me that civilization reaches its very height in the glistening, gently mottled form of just such a pudding as this, bedewed with its unctuous sauce.’

‘How wholly I agree with you, sir,’ cried Jack. ‘Allow me to cut you a slice from the translucent starboard end.’

‘Well, if I must, I must,’ said Mr Wright, eagerly advancing his plate.”
― Patrick O'Brian, The Hundred Days