I wrote 'The Spy Who Came in from the Cold' at the age of 30 under intense, unshared personal stress and in extreme privacy. As an intelligence officer in the guise of a junior diplomat at the British Embassy in Bonn, I was a secret to my colleagues, and much of the time to myself. - John le Carre 1 Share Now -
I've had nothing to do with the intelligence world since I left it, in any shade or variety. - John le Carre 2 Share Now -
If there is one eternal truth of politics, it is that there are always a dozen good reasons for doing nothing. - John le Carre 3 Share Now -
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 4 Share Now -
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 5 Share Now -
Most people like to read about intrigue and spies. I hope to provide a metaphor for the average reader's daily life. Most of us live in a slightly conspiratorial relationship with our employer and perhaps with our marriage. - John le Carre 6 Share Now -
The Secret Intelligence Service I knew occupied dusky suites of little rooms opposite St James's Park Tube station in London. - John le Carre 7 Share Now -
'The Spy Who Came in from the Cold' was the work of a wayward imagination brought to the end of its tether by political disgust and personal confusion. - John le Carre 8 Share Now -
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 9 Share Now -
It's part of a writer's profession, as it's part of a spy's profession, to prey on the community to which he's attached, to take away information - often in secret - and to translate that into intelligence for his masters, whether it's his readership or his spy masters. And I think that both professions are perhaps rather lonely. - John le Carre 10 Share Now -
