History Quotes by John le Carre

The creation of George Smiley, the retired spy recalled to hunt for just such a high-ranking mole in 'Tinker, Tailor,' was extremely personal. I…

— John le Carre

All power corrupts but some must govern.

— John le Carre

During the Cold War, we lived in coded times when it wasn't easy and there were shades of grey and ambiguity.

— John le Carre

“You're history, Donohue. You think countries run the fucking world! Go back to fucking Sunday school. It's 'God save our multinational' they're singing these…

— John le Carré

When you're my age and you see a story, you better go for it pretty quickly. I'd just like to get a few more…

— John le Carre

The trouble is, when professional spies go out of their way to make a definitive statement about one of their own, the public tends…

— John le Carre

Ideologies have no heart of their own. They're the whores and angels of our striving selves.

— John le Carre

Home's where you go when you run out of homes.

— John le Carre

“Pain observed is journalistic pain. It's diplomatic pain. It's television pain, over as soon as you switch off your beastly set.”

— John le Carré

The greatest threat to mankind comes from the renunciation of individual scruple in favor of institutional denominators. . . . Real heroism lies, as…

— John le Carre

“and the wood smoke will roll out of the fireplace on to the carpet we paid too much for on that rainy afternoon in…

— John le Carré

“Middle children weep longer than their brothers and sisters. Over her mother’s shoulder, stilling her pains and her injured pride, Jackie Lacon watched the…

— John le Carré

For decades to come the spy world will continue to be the collective couch where the subconscious of each nation is confessed.

— John le Carre

I happen to write by hand. I don't even type. John Le Carre

— John Le Carre

The more identities a man has, the more they express the person they conceal.

— John le Carre