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 Copy Share Image
A spy, like a writer, lives outside the mainstream population. He steals his experience through bribes and reconstructs it. — John le Carre Copy Share Image
“This is a war," Lemas replied. "It's graphic and unpleasant because it's fought on a tiny scale, at close range; fought with… — John le Carré Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
I was the British spy who had come out of the woodwork and told it how it really was, and anything I… — John le Carre Copy Share Image
I have a theory which I suspect is rather immoral,' Smiley went on, more lightly. 'Each of us has only a quantum… — John le Carre Copy Share Image
The merit of 'The Spy Who Came in from the Cold,' then - or its offence, depending where you stood - was… — John le Carre Copy Share Image
We have learned in recent years to translate almost all of political life in terms of conspiracy. And the spy novel, as… — John le Carre Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
I wrote 'The Spy Who Came in from the Cold' at the age of 30 under intense, unshared personal stress and in… — John le Carre Copy Share Image
It's part of a writer's profession, as it's part of a spy's profession, to prey on the community to which he's attached,… — John le Carre Copy Share Image
“It is said that men condemned to death are subject to sudden moments of elation; as if, like moths in the fire,… — John le Carré Copy Share Image
“Ashe, Kiever, Peters; that was a progression in quality, in authority, which to Leamas was axiomatic of the hierarchy of an intelligence… — John le Carré Copy Share Image
The creation of George Smiley, the retired spy recalled to hunt for just such a high-ranking mole in 'Tinker, Tailor,' was extremely… — John le Carre Copy Share Image
Most of us live in a condition of secrecy: secret desires, secret appetites, secret hatreds and relationship with the institutions which is… — John le Carre Copy Share Image
“Don't give it to them all at once, make them work for it. Confuse them with detail, leave things out, go back… — John le Carré Copy Share Image
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold was the work of a wayward imagination brought to the end of its tether… — John le Carre Copy Share Image
“A man who lives a part, not to others but alone, is exposed to obvious psychological dangers. In itself the practice of… — John le Carré Copy Share Image
“There's no way out," he announced with satisfaction, "and no amount of wishful dreaming will produce one. The demon won't go back… — John le Carré Copy Share Image
But I think the real tension lies in the relationship between what you might call the pursuer and his quarry, whether it's… — John le Carre Copy Share Image
'The Spy Who Came in from the Cold' was the work of a wayward imagination brought to the end of its tether… — John le Carre Copy Share Image
“Afterwards Smiley always thought of that interview as a fan dance; a calculated progression of disclosures, each revealing different parts of a… — John le Carré Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
“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 Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
Ideologies have no heart of their own. They're the whores and angels of our striving selves. — John le Carre Copy Share Image
“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 Copy Share Image
The greatest threat to mankind comes from the renunciation of individual scruple in favor of institutional denominators. . . . Real heroism lies, as… — John le Carre Copy Share Image
“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 Copy Share Image
“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 Copy Share Image
