But there is a big difference in working for the West and working for a totalitarian state. John le Carre More Quotes by John le Carre More Quotes From John le Carre 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. John le Carre volcanoeswifeeye I grew up in a completely bookless household. It was my father's boast that he had never read a book from end to end. I don't remember any of his ladies being bookish. So I was entirely dependent on my schoolteachers for my early reading with the exception of The Wind in the Willows, which a stepmother read to me when I was in hospital. John le Carre readingfatherbook 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 Carre criminalsuniquemind I grew up in a completely bookless household. It was my father's boast that he had never read a book from end to end. John le Carre grew-upfatherbook 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 Carre angelselfheart No problem exists in isolation, one must first reduce it to its basic components, then tackle each component in turn. John le Carre isolationproblemfirsts The trouble is, when professional spies go out of their way to make a definitive statement about one of their own, the public tends to believe the opposite: which puts us all back where we started. John le Carre spyoppositesbelieve 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 differencesfightingwar Elections are a Western jerk-off. John le Carre westernelectionjerk Completing a book, it's a little like having a baby.... There's a feeling of relief and satisfaction when you get to the end. A feeling that you have brought your family, your characters, home. Then a sort of post-natal depression and then, very quickly, the horizon of a new book. The consolation that next time I will do it better. John le Carre homebabybook Those who are not with Mr. Bush are against him. Worse, they are with the enemy. Which is odd, because I'm dead against Bush, but I would love to see Saddam's downfall -- just not on Bush's terms and not by his methods. And not under the banner of such outrageous hypocrisy. John le Carre oddhypocrisyenemy Agents of disruption, subversion, sabotage and disinformation tunnelers and smugglers, listeners and forgers, trainers and recruiters and talent spotters and couriers and watchers and seducers, assassins and balloonists, lip readers and disguise artists. John le Carre smugglersassassinsartist For all the flailing and huffing and puffing, there is a kind of fatality about the process of war-making and the excuses we find for it, the consolation of belligerence in politics. John le Carre huffingkindwar [My novels] introduce levels of intelligence ... moral doubt [and] self-doubt, which may not pertain [to real-world espionage]. John le Carre realselfdoubt Life was to be a search, or nothing! But it was the fear that it was nothing that drove me forward. Every encounter was an encounter with myself. John le Carre encounters All power corrupts but some must govern. John le Carre power-corrupts Out of date, perhaps, but who wasn't these days? Out of date, but loyal to his own time. At a certain moment, after all, every man chooses: will he go forward, will he go back? There was nothing dishounorable 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 Carre generationswindmen It was a charming fantasy of romantics that the spies would stop spying, that political conflict would end and politicians would tell the truth. Unfortunately that has not been the case. John le Carre spydemocracypolitical Power expands through the distribution of secrecy. John le Carre distributionsecrecypower When a problem threatens to engulf you, there's nothing like irrelevant detail to keep your head above water. John le Carre detailsproblemwater
