John le Carré quotes - page 2

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)
I remain terrified of the capacity of the media, the capacity of spin doctors, here and abroad, particularly the United States media, to perpetuate false lies, perpetuate lies. View quote
John le Carré
We were not faced (in the cold war) in a conflict with people who are prepared to die for their cause. We weren't in conflict with people whose idea is to kill as many as they could. View quote
John le Carré
Because we are so unfamiliar with the motivation of the people we are dealing with, we are more afraid of them than we need to be. View quote
John le Carré
In the war on terror we did everything wrong that we could have done. View quote
John le Carré
Peace, gentlemen, it is well known, does not come of its own accord, and neither does freedom. Peace has enemies. Peace must be won by the sword. View quote
John le Carré
Elections are a Western jerk-off. View quote
John le Carré
The longing we have to communicate cleanly and directly with people is always obstructed by qualifications and often with concern about how our messages will be received. View quote
John le Carré
A committee is an animal with four back legs. View quote
John le Carré
By the age of 9 or 10, I knew that I had to cut my own cloth and make my own way. View quote
John le Carré
I've always had difficulties with female characters. (John le Carré)
Americans believe that if you know something, you should do something about it. View quote
John le Carré
I happen to write by hand. I don't even type. View quote
John le Carré
I made a series of wrong decisions about moderately recent books, and I've sold the rights to studios for ridiculous amounts of money and the films have never been made. That's the saddest thing of all, because they're locked up and no one else can make them. View quote
John le Carré
Thank heaven, though, one of the few mistakes I haven't made is to talk about the unwritten book. View quote
John le Carré
There are some subjects that can only be tackled in fiction. View quote
John le Carré
Remember Graham Green's dictum that childhood is the bank balance of the writer? I think that all writers feel alienated. Most of us go back to an alienated childhood in some way or another. I know that I do. View quote
John le Carré
During the Cold War, we lived in coded times when it wasn't easy and there were shades of grey and ambiguity. View quote
John le Carré
I don't think that there are very many good writers who don't live without a sense of tension. If they haven't got one immediately available to them, then they usually manage to manufacture it in their private lives. View quote
John le Carré
[She] reports that [the company] recently donated fifty million dollars to a major U.S. teaching hospital, plus salaries and expenses for three top clinicians and six research assistants. Corruption of university Common Room affiliations is even easier: professorial chairs, biotech labs, research foundations, etc. 'Unbought scientific opinion is increasingly hard to find.' View quote
John le Carré
This is a war," Leamas replied. "It's graphic and unpleasant because it's fought on a tiny scale, at close range; fought with a wastage of innocent life sometimes, I admit. But it's nothing, nothing at all beside other wars – the last or the next. (John le Carré)
Savages...are by nature rash. They have no middle gear. The middle gear of any man is self-discipline. View quote
John le Carré
A spy, like a writer, lives outside the mainstream population. He steals his experience through bribes and reconstructs it. View quote
John le Carré
The neglected are too easily killed. View quote
John le Carré
The friends of my friends are my friends. View quote
John le Carré