JOHN LE CARRÉ QUOTES

British author (1931- )

John le Carré quote

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

Tags: government


Elections are a Western jerk-off.

JOHN LE CARRÉ

The Mission Song

Tags: voting


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


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

Tags: tyranny


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!


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

Tags: teaching


You should have died when I killed you.

JOHN LE CARRÉ

A Perfect Spy

Tags: murder


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


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


All men are born free: just not for long.

JOHN LE CARRÉ

A Murder of Quality

Tags: freedom


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


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

Tags: terrorism


Never trade a secret, you'll always get the short end of the bargain.

JOHN LE CARRÉ

The Mission Song

Tags: secrets


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


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

Tags: tabloids


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


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

Tags: terrorism