348 Quotes by John le Carré

There are moments which are made up of too much stuff for them to be lived at the time they occur.

The greatest threat to mankind comes from the renunciation of individual scruple in favor of institutional denominators. . . . Real heroism lies, as it always will, not in conformity or even patriotism, but in acts of solitary moral courage. Which, come to think of it, is what we used to admire in our Christian savior

I've always had difficulties with female characters.

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.

...in the hands of politicians grand designs achieve nothing but new forms of the old misery...

I think I'm in the same mood as ever, but in some ways more mature. I guess you could say that, at 65, when you've seen the world shape up as I have, there are only two things you can do: laugh or kill yourself.

There is a terrible alienation in the ordinary man between what he is being told and what he secretly believes.

To possess another language, Charlemagne tells us, is to possess another soul. German is such a language. Once you have it in your head, you can go there anytime, you can close the door, you have a refuge.

I think the greatest single enemy is the misuse of information, the perversion of truth in the hands of terribly skillful people.