"He had seen more than his share of horror. He had been born to a poorhouse whore in a London gutter and he had followed Britain's drum from Flanders to Madras and through the Indian wars and now from the beaches of Porutgal to the frontiers of Spain, but never, not even in the Sultan Tippoo's torture chambers in Seringapatam, had he seen children tossed into a dead pile like so many slaughtered animals." Chapter 1, Sharpe's Battle, p. 23

"'You're squeamish about rape, Captain Sharpe?'
'Funny in a man, isn't it? Yes, I am.'" Chapter 1, Sharpe's Battle, page 30.

"...when suddenly a wolf had howled its melancholy cry in the darkening hills. Its howl was long and desolate, and the echo lingered. And Sharpe shivered." Chapter 1, Sharpe's Battle, p. 42

"'I don't care if he came up from the jakes, Ducos. I want his scalp and I want his...