- Richard Sharpe: Who's in command of this expedition?
- Calvet: [referring to his own rank] How many generals do you see in this room?
- Richard Sharpe: None, Calvet. It's like the French Revolution. All men are equal. Each man on his own merit.
- [Referring the riflemen]
- Richard Sharpe: We have the most merit.
- Calvet: So you say.
- Richard Sharpe: I do say.
- Calvet: So which one of you 'equals' is in command?
- Richard Sharpe: I am.
- Calvet: [with a knife in hand, indicating the cheese on the table] So how do i divide the cheese? By *merit* or by *rank*? Who gets the biggest piece?
- Richard Sharpe: You do.
- Calvet: Because I'm a general!
- Richard Sharpe: No. Because i bloody hate cheese!
- [He exits. As Gaston tries to take the cheese instead, Calvet slaps his hand]
- Madame Lucille DuBert: Are you hungry, Richard?
- Richard Sharpe: I'm starving!
- Madame Lucille DuBert: What is your favourite French dish?
- Richard Sharpe: Ah... 'coque au vin'.
- Madame Lucille DuBert: That's because it's the only one you know?
- Richard Sharpe: No. I Iike it because it has wine in it.
- Madame Lucille DuBert: It has chicken in it, too!
- Calvet: [to Sharpe] For a change, Englishman, you and I will be on the same side. We are allies. Except that I am a General of Imperial France and you are a piece of English toadshit, which means that I give the orders and you obey them like a lily white-arsed conscript. So stop gawping like a novice nun in a gunners' bathhouse and tell me where we're going!
- [after Harper tells him that Jane has left him for another man, Sharpe waits about thirty seconds, then runs into the house and kicks open - literally - Lucille's bedroom door]
- Richard Sharpe: Begging your pardon, ma'am. Your door was locked.
- Lady Molly Spindacre: See, men are all the same.You marry them,you make a good home for them,but as soon as your back is turned,they're off to battle, and before you can say Jack Robinson, they're dead as doornails.
- Calvet: [sits down to eat in between battles; to Ducos, in French] Breakfast?
- [as Ducos shakes his head, bagpipes are heard in the distance, announcing the next British attack]
- Calvet: Ross. And where Ross is, Sharpe is.
- Ducos: Can I trust you to kill Sharpe?
- Calvet: [more interested in his breakfast than the battle] We do our best.