John le Carré

Quotes

1. Closing the passenger door after him, Guillam had a sudden urge to wish Smiley good night or even good luck, so he leaned across the seat and lowered the window and drew in his breath to call. But Smiley was gone. He had never known anyone who could disappear so quickly in a crowd.

2. 

   For a while he had remained content with Britain's part in the world, till gradually it dawned on him just how trivial this was. How and when was a mystery…simply, he knew that if England were out of the game, the price of fish would not be altered by a farthing. He had often wondered which side he would be on if the test ever came; after prolonged reflection he had finally to admit that if either monolith had to win the day, he would prefer it to be the East.

   “It's an aesthetic judgment as much as anything,” he explained, looking up. “Partly a moral one, of course.”

   “Of course,” said Smiley politely.

3. 

   Suddenly, Smiley sat up with a jolt.

   “We spoke,” wrote Alleline to the Minister, in a minute dated February 27th this year. “You agreed to submit a supplementary estimate to the Treasury for a London house to be carried on the Witchcraft budget.”

   He read it once, then again more slowly.

4. 

   There was tea on a tray: Guillam had prepared it, two cups. To safe houses belongs a certain standard of catering. Either you are pretending you live there, or that you are adept anywhere; or simply that you think of everything. In the trade, naturalness is an art, Guillam decided.

5. 

   “His real name is Bill,” Roach heard Jim explain to a visiting parent. “We were new boys together.”

6. 

   On the day the Berne police hit the villa and Guillam had to hop over the back wall, he found Toby at the Bellevue Hotel munching pâtisseries and watching the thé dansant. He listened to what Guillam had to say, paid his bill, tipped first the band-leader, then Franz the head porter…”If you ever want to get out of Switzerland in a hurry,” thought Guillam, “you pay your bills first.”

7. 

   “Secret services and their customers are like anyone else, I'm afraid. They value most what costs most, and Merlin costs a fortune. Ever bought a fake picture?”

   “I sold a couple once,” said Toby with a flashy, nervous smile, but no one laughed.

   “The more you pay for it, the less inclined you are to doubt it.”

8. 

   “You're an educated sort of swine,' Roy Bland announced… “’An artist is a bloke who can hold two fundamentally opposing views and still function’: who dreamed that one up?”

   “Scott Fitzgerald,” Smiley replied.

   “Well, Fitzgerald knew a thing or two,” Bland affirmed. “And I'm definitely functioning, George. As a good socialist I'm going for the money. As a good capitalist, I'm sticking with the revolution, because if you can't beat it, spy on it.”

9. 

   Is the Witchcraft committee led from below? From the middle or from the top? I rather like Karla's description of committees don't you? Is it Chinese? A committee is an animal with four back legs.

10. 

    “Why's it all so hot? What sort of plant can he be when we don't believe a word he says?”

    Alleline seemed to be torn between giving a satisfactory but indiscreet answer, or making a fool of himself.

11. 

    Tinkler Tailor Soldier Spy (film)

12. 

    Patiently Smiley waited for the speck of gold, for Connie was of an age where the only thing a man could give her was time.