# Quote — John le Carré, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

> “It's all neon lights and Sodom. All over the world beastly people are making our time into nothing…It was a good time, a real time. Englishmen could be proud then. Let them be proud now.”
>
> “That's not quite up to me, Connie.”
>
> “Poor loves. Trained to Empire, trained to rule the waves. All gone. All taken away. Bye-bye world. You're the last, George, you and Bill… 'If it's bad, don't come back. Promise? I'm an old leopard and I'm too old to change my spots. I want to remember you all as you were. Lovely, lovely boys.”

- Author: [John le Carré](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-le-carre.md)
- Book: [Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-le-carre/tinker-tailor-soldier-spy.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tinker_Tailor_Soldier_Spy_(novel)#Part_One) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-le-carre/tinker-tailor-soldier-spy/its-all-neon

## More from this book

> "If I couldn't get out, if there was any fumble after I'd met Stevcek, if I had to go underground, I must get the one word to him even if I had to go to Prague and chalk it on the Embassy door…Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor. Alleline was Tinker, Haydon was Tailor, Bland was Soldier and Toby Esterhase was Poorman. We dropped Sailor because it rhymed with Tailor. You were Beggarman," Jim said.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-le-carre/tinker-tailor-soldier-spy/if-i-couldnt.md)

> Witchcraft No. 4 was an immensely technical Soviet Foreign Service appreciation of the advantages and disadvantages of negotiating with a weakened American president. The conclusion, on balance, was that by throwing the President a bone for his own electorate, the Soviet Union could buy useful concessions.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-le-carre/tinker-tailor-soldier-spy/witchcraft-no-4-was.md)

> “George is like a swift,” Ann had once told Haydon in his hearing. “He cuts down his body temperature till it's the same as the environment. Then he doesn't lose energy adjusting.”

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-le-carre/tinker-tailor-soldier-spy/george-is-like.md)