JOHN LE CARRÉ QUOTES
British author (1931- )
As our Governments spin, lie and lose their credibility, the electorate simply shrugs and looks the other way.
JOHN LE CARRÉ
"The United States of America Has Gone Mad", 2003
And the ideologies trailed after these impossible events like condemned prisoners, as ideologies do when they've had their day. Because they have no heart of their own. They're the whores and angels of our striving selves.
JOHN LE CARRÉ
The Secret Pilgrim
Elections are a Western jerk-off.
JOHN LE CARRÉ
The Mission Song
If you're in a hole, don't dig, they say.
JOHN LE CARRÉ
The Mission Song
It's a principle of mine to come into the story as late as possible, and to tell it as fast as you can.
JOHN LE CARRÉ
interview, The Paris Review, summer 1997
Tyranny is like the electric wiring in an old house. A tyrant dies, the new tyrant takes possession, and all he has to do is drop the switch.
JOHN LE CARRÉ
Absolute Friends
The good pupils are often brilliant, and they keep you on your toes and take you to the limits of your knowledge. The worst pupils provide a unique insight into the criminal mind.
JOHN LE CARRÉ
interview, The Paris Review, summer 1997
You should have died when I killed you.
JOHN LE CARRÉ
A Perfect Spy
A desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world.
JOHN LE CARRÉ
attributed, 1,600 Quotes & Pieces of Wisdom That Just Might Help You Out When You're Stuck in a Moment and Can't Get Out of It!
There was nothing dishonourable in not being blown about by every little modern wind. Better to have worth, to entrench, to be an oak of one's own generation.
JOHN LE CARRÉ
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
I mean, you can't be less ruthless than the opposition simply because your government's policy is benevolent, can you now?
JOHN LE CARRÉ
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
All men are born free: just not for long.
JOHN LE CARRÉ
A Murder of Quality
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.
JOHN LE CARRÉ
radio interview, The Book Show, November 19, 2008
When a problem threatens to engulf you, there's nothing like irrelevant detail to keep your head above water.
JOHN LE CARRÉ
The Russia House
Never trade a secret, you'll always get the short end of the bargain.
JOHN LE CARRÉ
The Mission Song
In the last 15 or 20 years, I've watched the British press simply go to hell. There seems to be no limit, no depths to which the tabloids won't sink. I don't know who these people are but they're little pigs.
JOHN LE CARRÉ
Conversations with John Le Carré
Having your book turned into a movie is like seeing your oxen turned into bouillon cubes.
JOHN LE CARRÉ
attributed, Bad TV: The Very Best of the Very Worst
When it's going well [writing] goes terribly fast. It isn't at all surprising to write a chapter in a day, which for me is about twenty-two pages. When it's going badly, it isn't really going badly; it's just the beginning.
JOHN LE CARRÉ
interview, The Paris Review, summer 1997
I think that most of my books are part of some process of self-education, often about the places I go to. Most of all, they are about the peculiar tension between institutional loyalty and loyalty to oneself; the mystery of patriotism, for a Brit of my age and generation, where it runs, how it should be defined, what it's worth and what a corrupting force it can be when misapplied. All that stuff is just in me and it comes out in the characters. I don't mean to preach, but I know I do, and I'm a very flawed person. It's quite ridiculous.
JOHN LE CARRÉ
interview, The Paris Review, summer 1997
You can't make war against terror. Terror is a technique of battle. It's a tactic that has been employed since time immemorial. You can conduct clandestine action against terrorists, and that must be done.
JOHN LE CARRÉ
radio interview, The Book Show, November 19, 2008