Quote

Out of date, perhaps, but who wasn't these days? Out of date, but loyal to his own time.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.

John le Carre

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John le Carre
Age: 89 †
Born: 1931
Born: October 19
Died: 2020
Died: December 12
Actor
Film Producer
Novelist
Screenwriter
Spy
Writer
Sweetwater
Texas
David John Moore Cornwell
David Cornwell
John le Carre
Back
Wind
Chooses
Better
Wasn
Loyal
Little
Modern
Date
Nothing
Days
Generation
Every
Moment
Forward
Men
Moments
Generations
Entrench
Time
Certain
Worth
Oaks
Littles
Perhaps
Blown

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For better or worse, I've been involved in the description of political conflict.
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The world of spying is my genre. My struggle is to demystify, to de-romanticise the spook world, but at the same time harness it as a good story.
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I've got more than one string to my bow, and I thought I'd give this one a twang.
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He has the gift of quiet.
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I mean, you can't be less ruthless than the opposition simply because your government's policy is benevolent, can you now?
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When it's going well [writing] goes terribly fast. It isn't at all surprising to write a chapter in a day, which for me is about twenty-two pages. When it's going badly, it isn't really going badly it's just the beginning.
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It's the oldest question of all, George. Who can spy on the spies?
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As our Governments spin, lie and lose their credibility, the electorate simply shrugs and looks the other way.
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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.
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Unfortunately it is the weak who destroy the strong.
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The more identities a man has, the more they express the person they conceal.
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We've had enough. He took back the report and jammed it under his arm. We've had a bellyful, in fact. And like everyone who's had enough, said Control as Alleline noisily left the room, he wants more.
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There is a big difference between fighting the cold war and fighting radical Islam. The rules have changed and we haven't.
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I grew up in a completely bookless household. It was my father's boast that he had never read a book from end to end.
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Writing is like walking in a deserted street. Out of the dust in the street you make a mud pie.
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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.
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