John le Carre
John le Carre
David John Moore Cornwellis a British author of espionage novels. During the 1950s and the 1960s, he worked for the Security Service and the Secret Intelligence Service, and began writing novels under a pen name. His third novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, became an international best-seller, and remains one of his best-known works. Following the success of this novel, he left MI6 to become a full-time author...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth19 October 1931
status-quo one-thing
There's one thing worse than change and that's the status quo.
bribery blackmail
Blackmail is more effective than bribery.
cowboy thinking play
What do you think spies are: priests, saints and martyrs? They're a squalid procession of vain fools, traitors too, yes; pansies, sadists and drunkards, people who play cowboys and Indians to brighten their rotten lives.
spy world couches
For decades to come the spy world will continue to be the collective couch where the subconscious of each nation is confessed.
german-language bumblebees literature
I taught principally German language and literature at Eton. But any master with private pupils must be prepared to teach anything they ask for. That can be as diverse as the early paintings of Salvador Dali or how bumblebees manage to fly.
fatherhood able example
I was quite able at the insignificant work I did in MI6, but absolutely dysfunctional in my domestic life. I had no experience of fatherhood. I had no example of marital bliss or the family unit.
fake-people lying reality
We lie to one another every day, in the sweetest way, often unconsciously. We dress ourselves and compose ourselves in order to present ourselves to one another.
intelligence-services opposites secret
The Secret Intelligence Service I knew occupied dusky suites of little rooms opposite St James's Park Tube station in London.
double-standard world standards
Once you've lived the inside-out world of espionage, you never shed it. It's a mentality, a double standard of existence.
fool literature language
Fools, most linguists. Damn all to say in one language, so they learn another and say damn all in that.
doing-nothing facts littles
The fact that you can only do a little is no excuse for doing nothing.
election jerk western
Elections are a Western jerk-off.
power-corrupts
All power corrupts but some must govern.
spy
It's the oldest question of all, George. Who can spy on the spies?