John le Carré

• “Where I kick myself is where I think I actually contributed to the myth of the intelligence services being very good.”

• “Can’t you see it’s the same? The same guns, the same children dying in the streets? Only the dream has changed, the blood is the same colour.”

• “Such an effort being with people—on stage all the time.”

• ““I don’t know,” Cardew replied evenly. “And when I don’t know, I usually keep quiet.””

• “If they do not know what they want, how can they be so certain they are right?”

• “'Findley was not quite a character, thank you!' Frau Ellenberger retorted furiously. 'He wasn't a character at all. Mr Findley was assembled entirely from characteristics stolen from other people!'”

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.

John le Carré across IJR