62 quotes
The friends of my friends are my friends.
The Mission Song (2006)
A man who lives apart, not to others but alone, is exposed to obvious psychological dangers. In itself, the practice of deception is not particularly exacting; it is a matter of experience, of professional expertise, it is a facility most of us can acquire.
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963)
Peace, gentlemen, it is well known, does not come of its own accord, and neither does freedom. Peace has enemies. Peace must be won by the sword.
The Mission Song (2006)
Nothing in life... even a few broken bones, is without its reward.
The Mission Song (2006)
And meanwhile, don’t think that Africans are disposed to corruption where we are not, so to speak. Actually, most of the corruption that has taken place in Congo on a vast scale is Western-driven.
John le Carré (1931-2020) on the Iraq War, Corporate Power, the Exploitation of Africa & More, Democracy Now! (2020)
There is a big difference between fighting the cold war and fighting radical Islam. The rules have changed and we haven't.
Radio interview (2008)
Savages...are by nature rash. They have no middle gear. The middle gear of any man is self-discipline.
The Mission Song (2006)
I remain terrified of the capacity of the media, the capacity of spin doctors, here and abroad, particularly the United States media, to perpetuate false lies, perpetuate lies.
John le Carré (1931-2020) on the Iraq War, Corporate Power, the Exploitation of Africa & More, Democracy Now! (2020)
On one hand we go like hell for every terror cell we can find, we penetrate it, we destroy it. On the other hand, there is a much bigger need for a political solution.
Radio interview (2008)
In the war on terror we did everything wrong that we could have done.
Radio interview (2008)
When you assimilate, you choose.
The Mission Song (2006)
There are some Arabs who think that the Germans did the right thing by the Jews. This makes it easy to recruit Arab terrorist.
Radio interview (2008)
Why was London the only capital in the world that lost its personality at night? Smiley, as he pulled his coat more closely about him, could think of nowhere, from Los Angeles to Berne, which so readily gave up its daily struggle for identity.
Call for the Dead (1961)
“These small, out-of-the-way villages are pretty strange places,” he concluded. “Often only three or four families, all so inbred you can no more sort them out than a barnful of cats. That’s where your village idiots come from. They call it the Devil’s Mark. I call it incest.”
A Murder of Quality (1962)
Because we are so unfamiliar with the motivation of the people we are dealing with, we are more afraid of them than we need to be.
Radio interview (2008)
Wives? she asked, interrupting him. For a moment, he had assumed she was tuning to the novel. Then he saw her waiting, suspicious eyes, so he replied cautiously, "None active," as if wives were volcanoes.
It was from us they learnt the secret of life: that we grow old without growing wise. They realised that nothing happened when we grew up: no blinding light on the road to Damascus, no sudden feeling of maturity.
A Murder of Quality (1962)
We were both hybrids: I by birth, he by education. We had both taken too many steps away from the country that had borne us to belong anywhere with ease.
The Mission Song (2006)
Elections are a Western jerk-off.
The Mission Song (2006)
I would say that since the war, our methods—ours and those of the opposition—have become much the same. I mean you can’t be less ruthless than the opposition simply because your government’s policy is benevolent, can you now?
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963)