I mean, I'm in the business of storytelling, not message making. John le Carre More Quotes by John le Carre More Quotes From John le Carre If there is one eternal truth of politics, it is that there are always a dozen good reasons for doing nothing. John le Carre dozenpoliticspolitical There is no such thing as a secure writer: every novel is an impossible mountain. John le Carre mountainimpossiblewriting How Bush and his junta succeeded in deflecting America's anger from bin Laden to Saddam Hussein is one of the great public relations conjuring tricks of history. But they swung it. A recent poll tells us that one in two Americans now believe Saddam was responsible for the attack on the World Trade Centre. John le Carre twobelieveamerica There's one thing worse than change and that's the status quo. John le Carre status-quoone-thing Having your book turned into a movie is like seeing your oxen turned into bouillon cubes. John le Carre moviereadingbook The fact that you can only do a little is no excuse for doing nothing. John le Carre doing-nothinglittlesfacts 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 spycouchesworld Until we have a better relationship between private performance and the public truth, as was demonstrated with Watergate, we as the public are absolutely right to remain suspicious, contemptuous even, of the secrecy and the misinformation which is the digest of our news. John le Carre secrecynewsliterature History keeps her secrets longer than most of us. But she has one secret that I will reveal to you tonight in the greatest confidence. Sometimes there are no winners at all. And sometimes nobody needs to lose. John le Carre tonightsecretneeds People who've had very unhappy childhoods are pretty good at inventing themselves. If nobody invents you for yourself, nothing is left but to invent yourself for others. John le Carre unhappy-childhoodliteraturepeople 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 shadeliteraturewar He has the gift of quiet. John le Carre quiet Our power knows no limits, yet we cannot find food for a starving child, or a home for a refugee. Our knowledge is without measure and we build the weapons that will destroy us. We live on the edge of ourselves, terrified of the darkness within. We have harmed, corrupted and ruined, we have made mistakes and deceived. John le Carre mistakehomechildren The greatest threat to mankind comes from the renunciation of individual scruple in favor of institutional denominators. . . . Real heroism lies, as it always will, not in conformity or even patriotism, but in acts of solitary moral courage. Which, come to think of it, is what we used to admire in our Christian savior John le Carre realchristianlying As our Governments spin, lie and lose their credibility, the electorate simply shrugs and looks the other way. John le Carre governmentlyinglooks Ideologies have no heart of their own. They're the whores and angels of our striving selves. John le Carre angelselfheart Without a pen in my hand I can't think. John le Carre writinghandsthinking 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 Carre tyrantstyrannyhouse When the world is destroyed, it will be destroyed not by its madmen but by the sanity of its experts and the superior ignorance of its bureaucrats. John le Carre ignoranceexpertsworld ...also took for granted that secret services were the only real measure of a nations political health, the only real expression of its subconscious. John le Carre politicalrealexpression
