Quotes by John LeCarre

“Love is whatever you can still betray. Betrayal can only happen if you love.”

“You should have died when I killed you.”

“Writing is like walking in a deserted street. Out of the dust in the street you make a mud pie.”

“Having your book turned into a movie is like seeing your oxen turned into bouillon cubes.”

“History keeps her secrets longer than most of us. But she has one secret that I will reveal to you tonight in the greatest confidence. Sometimes there are no winners at all. And sometimes nobody needs to lose.”

“The monsters of our childhood do not fade away, neither are they ever wholly monstrous. But neither, in my experience, do we ever reach a plane of detachment regarding our parents, however wise and old we may become. To pretend otherwise is to cheat.”

“Berlin. What a garrison of spies! what a cabinet full of useless, liquid secrets, what a playground for every alchemist, miracle worker and rat piper that ever took up the cloak.”

“If there is one eternal truth of politics, it is that there are always a dozen good reasons for doing nothing.”

“For decades to come the spy world will continue to be the collective couch where the subconscious of each nation is confessed.”

“I move my lips when I read -- Im painfully slow -- so I like really good English.”