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
For better or worse, I've been involved in the description of political conflict. — 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
“Perhaps we didn't win anyway. (the Cold War) Perhaps they just lost. Or perhaps, without the bonds of ideological conflict to restrain… — John le Carré Copy Share Image
In every war zone that I've been in, there has been a reality and then there has been the public perception of… — John le Carre Copy Share Image
“right…What do you do for a living, Smiley?” “After the war I was at Oxford for a bit. Teaching and research. I’m… — John le Carré Copy Share Image
America has entered one of its periods of historical madness, but this is the worst I can remember: worse than McCarthyism, worse… — John le Carre Copy Share Image
You can't make war against terror. Terror is a technique of battle. It's a tactic that has been employed since time immemorial.… — John le Carre 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
There will be no war, but in the pursuit of principle no stone will be left standing. — John le Carre Copy Share Image
There is a big difference between fighting the cold war and fighting radical Islam. The rules have changed and we haven't. — John le Carre Copy Share Image
I worked for MI6 in the Sixties, during the great witch-hunts, when the shared paranoia of the Cold War gripped the services. — John le Carre Copy Share Image
The cold war provided the perfect excuse for Western governments to plunder and exploit the Third World in the name of freedom;… — John le Carre Copy Share Image
“Demos are mock battles, never the real thing. Everybody knows where they're going to happen, and when and why. Nobody gets seriously… — John le Carré Copy Share Image
“I would say that since the war, our methods-out and those of the opposition-have become much the same. I mean you can't… — John le Carré Copy Share Image
For all the flailing and huffing and puffing, there is a kind of fatality about the process of war-making and the excuses… — John le Carre Copy Share Image
It was man who ended the Cold War in case you didn't notice. It wasn't weaponry, or technology, or armies or campaigns.… — John le Carre Copy Share Image
The religious cant that will send American troops into battle is perhaps the most sickening aspect of this surreal war-to-be. Bush has… — John le Carre Copy Share Image
Look... we're getting to be old men, and we've spent our lives looking for the weaknesses in one another's systems. I can… — John le Carre 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
