69 Quotes by Len Deighton

That was one of the problems of marrying into wealth; there were no luxuries.

Husbands are a by-product of marriage,’ said Harvey. ‘A waste product,’ corrected Mercy Newbegin.

Enrolment is tricky. You are telling lies to highly skilled liars.

For fear is so unwelcome that it comes only in disguise, and guilt is its favourite one.

Keith Park was a popular and persuasive man. He had quelled a near mutiny in 1918 by assembling the airmen and talking to them on random subjects and in such a monotonous voice for so long that all rebelliousness was destroyed by fatigue.

He remembered the PM saying that every Russian is at heart a chess-player, and every American at heart a public-relations man. Well, Bret Rensselaer’s zeal did nothing to disprove that one. The sheer audacity of the scheme plus Bret’s enthusiasm was enough to persuade him that it was worth a try. Bret nodded to acknowledge the compliment.

Summer rain is cleaner than winter rain. Winter rain strikes hard upon the granite, but summer rain is sibilant soft upon the leaves.

Like all women she was tyrannized by her biology.

Time used to be the panacea for everything, but nowadays our sins are remembered on computers, and random-accessed memories do not fade.