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
war fighting differences
There is a big difference between fighting the cold war and fighting radical Islam. The rules have changed and we haven't.
election jerk western
Elections are a Western jerk-off.
fiction fiction-writers credible
Every writer knows he is spurious; every fiction writer would rather be credible than authentic.
firsts isolation problem
No problem exists in isolation, one must first reduce it to its basic components, then tackle each component in turn.
power-corrupts
All power corrupts but some must govern.
men wind loyal
Out of date, perhaps, but who wasn't these days? Out of date, but loyal to his own time. At a certain moment, after all, every man chooses: will he go forward, will he go back? There was nothing dishounorable 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.
real self doubt
[My novels] introduce levels of intelligence ... moral doubt [and] self-doubt, which may not pertain [to real-world espionage].
war mean names
The cold war provided the perfect excuse for Western governments to plunder and exploit the Third World in the name of freedom; to rig its elections, bribe its politicians, appoint its tyrants and, by every sophisticated means of persuasion and interference, stunt the emergence of young democracies in the name of democracy.
running home homecoming
Home's where you go when you run out of homes.
book men hands
I'm really a library man, or second-hand book man.
war long cold
The Cold War was over long before it was officially declared dead.
wind choices littles
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.
wise tongue experts
A good writer is an expert on nothing except himself. And on that subject, if he is wise, he holds his tongue.
real expression political
...also took for granted that secret services were the only real measure of a nations political health, the only real expression of its subconscious.