Spies Quotes by John le Carre

11 Spies quotes by John le Carre

John le Carré’s prose often dwells in the shadows of intelligence work. These eleven short lines distill his nuanced view of spies, highlighting the tension between duty and conscience.

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“Espionage is not a cricket game”

John le Carré

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You could be the perfect spy. All you need is a cause

John le Carré

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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

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“It’s the oldest question of all, George. Who can spy on the spies? Who can smell out the fox without running with…

John le Carré

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Once you've lived the inside-out world of espionage, you never shed it. It's a mentality, a double standard of existence.

John le Carre

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It's the oldest question of all, George. Who can spy on the spies?

John le Carre

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Agents of disruption, subversion, sabotage and disinformation tunnelers and smugglers, listeners and forgers, trainers and recruiters and talent spotters and couriers and…

John le Carre

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It was a charming fantasy of romantics that the spies would stop spying, that political conflict would end and politicians would tell…

John le Carre

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What do you think spies are: priests, saints and martyrs? They're a squalid procession of vain fools, traitors too, yes; pansies, sadists…

John le Carre

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

John le Carre

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“Some people are agents from birth, Monsignors -- he told them -- appointed to the work by the period of history, the…

John le Carré

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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…

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All power corrupts but some must govern.

John le Carre

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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

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“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…

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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

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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

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

John le Carre

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

John le Carre

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“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

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

John le Carre

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“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

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“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

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