Skip to content

"And pray, what in sea language is meant by a ship?"
"She must have three square-rigged masts, sir," they told him kindly, "and a bowsprit; and the masts must be in three - lower, top and topgallant - for we never call a polacre a ship."

— Patrick O'Brian Master and Commander (1970)

Another quote →

More quotes by Patrick O'Brian

“Other people's marriages are a perpetual source of amazement.”

The Commodore (1995)

"Jack,you have debauched my sloth."

HMS Surprise (1973)

She was a fine dashing woman, and without being either pretty or beautiful she gave the impression of being both, mostly from the splendid way she carried her head.

“But you know as well as I, patriotism is a word; and one that generally comes to mean either my country, right or wrong, which is infamous, or my country is always right, which is imbecile.”

Master and Commander (1970)

“This short watch that is about to come, or rather these two short watches--why are they called dog watches? Where, heu, heu, is the canine connection?"
"Why," said Stephen, "it is because they are curtailed of course.”

All Patrick O'Brian quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Patrick O'Brian (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.