Dudley Pope > Quotes

“(obeying the Admiralty instruction which said only that a man “claimed” the woman as his “wife,” with no limit on the number of ports in which the man could have a “wife”).”
― Dudley Pope, Ramage & the Renegades: The Lord Ramage Novels

“It was not that these men were cold-blooded or hard-hearted: death was something they had to take in their stride. Dwelling on it would probably drive a man mad,”
― Dudley Pope, Ramage & the Dido

“Instead, Parliament passed an Act which was, as usual, a legal redundancy, and superbly upholstered with "whereby," "notwithstanding," "heretofore" and other such words so beloved of anyone who ever used a heavy legal textbook to prop open a door on a windy day”
― Dudley Pope, Ramage & the Guillotine

“if you were to lead successfully, whether a kingdom or a ship’s company, the only standards worth bothering with were those you set yourself; those of others were—well, those of the mob; those who were led, who had neither the ability nor the courage to sit alone and make the decisions.”
― Dudley Pope, Ramage & the Drumbeat

“You can’t train a fox not to kill hens; you can’t stop Algerines killing everyone who won’t bow before Allah.”
― Dudley Pope, Ramage's Signal: The Lord Ramage Novels

“If I marry all the women I love, I have a hundred wives!”
― Dudley Pope, Ramage's Mutiny

“An hour at sea with Uncle Nicholas comprised forty minutes of waiting, nineteen minutes of wondering, and one minute of sheer excitement.”
― Dudley Pope, Ramage & the Rebels (The Lord Ramage Novels Book 9)

“We won the war and Hawkesbury and Addington have lost the peace,”
― Dudley Pope, Ramage & the Renegades: The Lord Ramage Novels

“Fado, Ramage thought to himself; the Portuguese were a far from sad people, but those sad songs ... always about the broken-hearted woman left at home while her loved one departed, whether for some distant shore or the gates of Heaven. If one judged the country by the song, the nation comprised only women who'd been spurned, jilted, widowed or whose lover had disappeared over the horizon, and every dam' one of them wailing about it to the accompaniment of musical instruments obviously invented by gloomy men for the use at funerals.”
― Dudley Pope, Ramage's Prize

“The captain was not the tip of a pyramid, as most people thought; in fact it was just the reverse: he was the spindle on which everything else balanced.”
― Dudley Pope, Ramage's Diamond: The Lord Ramage Novels

“Once you realize it’s a ‘them or us’ situation, though,” Southwick said conversationally, “it’s surprising how you see it all in a different light.”
― Dudley Pope, Ramage & the Dido

“politics are the curse of the Navy!”
― Dudley Pope, Ramage & the Drumbeat

“the”
― Dudley Pope, Ramage's Prize

“Thinking of his forebears, it seemed the actual moment of death was not important to record: you died when those who lived forgot your existence.”
― Dudley Pope, Ramage & the Freebooters (The Lord Ramage Novels)

“Corruption, my boy, makes the world go round.”
― Dudley Pope, Ramage & the Saracens