27 Quotes By John le Carre


My definition of a decent society is one that first of all takes care of its losers, and protects its weak.
John le Carre on society

Until we have a better relationship between private performance and the public truth, as was demonstrated with Watergate, we as the public are absolutely right to remain suspicious, contemptuous even, of the secrecy and the misinformation which is the digest of our news.
John le Carre on truth

If there is one eternal truth of politics, it is that there are always a dozen good reasons for doing nothing.
John le Carre on truth

The Cold War was over long before it was officially declared dead.
John le Carre on war

During the Cold War, we lived in coded times when it wasn't easy and there were shades of grey and ambiguity.
John le Carre on war

In every war zone that I've been in, there has been a reality and then there has been the public perception of why the war was being fought. In every crisis, the issues have been far more complex than the public has been allowed to know.
John le Carre on war

I worked for MI6 in the Sixties, during the great witch-hunts, when the shared paranoia of the Cold War gripped the services.
John le Carre on war