Memoirs of a Police Sergeant (Portuguese: Memórias de um sargento de milícias) is a novel written by the Brazilian author Manuel Antônio de Almeida. It was first published in 1852. It tells the colorful story of a problem child that grows up into an immoral, reckless young man until he is arrested by the police and given the chance of becoming an officer instead of serving his sentence. The book is full of picturesque descriptions of Rio de Janeiro's life in the early 19th century, including popular feasts and holidays, and is considered, besides a literary masterpiece, an important source of Brazilian history.
A recent edition in Portuguese (New York, NY: Luso-Brazilian Books, 2005) has the ISBN 0-85051-504-1. A recent English edition titled Memoirs of a militia sergeant: a novel (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999) has the ISBN 0-19-511549-X.
Famous quotes containing the words memoirs, police and/or sergeant:
“There are people who can write their memoirs with a reasonable amount of honesty, and there are people who simply cannot take themselves seriously enough. I think I might be the first to admit that the sort of reticence which prevents a man from exploiting his own personality is really an inverted sort of egotism.”
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)
“A sure proportion of rogue and dunce finds its way into every school and requires a cruel share of time, and the gentle teacher, who wished to be a Providence to youth, is grown a martinet, sore with suspicions; knows as much vice as the judge of a police court, and his love of learning is lost in the routine of grammars and books of elements.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“So, my sweetheart back home writes to me and wants to know what this gal in Bombay’s got that she hasn’t got. So I just write back to her and says, “Nothin’, honey. Only she’s got it here.””
—Alvah Bessie, Ranald MacDougall, and Lester Cole. Raoul Walsh. Sergeant Tracey, Objective Burma, to a buddy (1945)