Go and see whether the Doctor is about,โ said Jack, โand if he is, ask him to look in, when he has a moment.โ Which he is in the fish-market, turning over some old-fashioned lobsters. No. I tell a lie. That is him, falling down the companion-way and cursing in foreign.
Patrick O'BrianStephen had spared no expense in making himself more unhappy, his own position as a rejected lover clearer.
Patrick O'BrianFor me the process works best with no interruptions, no breaks in the steady application, no letters to be answered, very little social life, no holidays; it is therefore a form of happy imprisonment.
Patrick O'BrianWhy, sir," said he, looking about him, "what splendour I see: gold lace, breeches, cocked hats. Allow me to recommend a sandwich. And would you be contemplating an attack, at all?" "It had crossed my mind, I must admit," said Jack. "Indeed, I may go so far as to say, that I am afraid a conflict is now virtually inevitable. Did you notice we have cleared for action?
Patrick O'BrianThere is a systematic flocci-nauci-nihili-pilification of all other aspects of existence that angers me.
Patrick O'BrianFor you must know, gentlemen, that when the mariner is dosed, he likes to know that he has been dosed: with fifteen grains or even less of this valuable substance scenting him and the very air about him there can be no doubt of the matter; and such is the nature of the human mind that he experiences a far greater real benefit than the drug itself would provide, were it deprived of its stench.
Patrick O'Brian