Quotes from Nicholas Monsarrat

Sailors, with their built in sense of order, service and discipline, should really be running the world.

blue eyes as level as a foot rule, with wrinkles at the corners—the product of humour and of twenty years' staring at a thousand horizons.

stations on board, the fo'c'sle had been allotted to

The Captain drew a long breath, conscious deep within him of an enormous satisfaction. 'Write this down, and then send it to them. "To Flag Officer in Charge, Londonderry, v Marlborough. HMS Marlborough will enter harbour at 1300 today. Ship is severely damaged above and below waterline. Request pilot, tugs, dockyard assistance, and burial arrangements for one officer and seventy-four ratings." Got that?

It was a marvellous morning, clear as a mirror, warm as the promise of love, bright as heaven.

It wasn't that they were all pretty, but they were all attractive; they'd obviously taken endless trouble over their appearance, playing up any good feature and being clever about the remainder, and it was really delightful to walk down a street past this moving frieze of faces and figures, each of which seemed to have its own cunning distinction. They

Out on his flank, a soldier whipped up his crossbow, cocked it with a jerk on a leather thong, took aim and let fly. The iron-tipped arrow whistled through the air and found its mark, straight between the shoulder blades of the retreating spy. The man dropped like a stone. A short scream became a cough, and the cough a torrent of blood on the sand.

The secret of good government is to let men alone.