Quotes from A Perfect Spy

John le Carré ·  608 pages

Rating: (13.3K votes)


“Sometimes we have to do a thing in order to find out the reason for it. Sometimes our actions are questions, not answers.”
― John le Carré, quote from A Perfect Spy


“You could be the perfect spy. All you need is a cause.”
― John le Carré, quote from A Perfect Spy


“He was learning to live on several planes at once. The art of it was to forget everything except the ground you stood on and the face you spoke from at that moment.”
― John le Carré, quote from A Perfect Spy


“A vida tem de ser paga. A vida é fazer-se o que tem de ser feito, mesmo que se morra por causa disso.”
― John le Carré, quote from A Perfect Spy


“Mas em diplomacia nada é duradouro, nada é absoluto e uma conspiração entre assassinos não é motivo para interromper o fluxo da conversa”
― John le Carré, quote from A Perfect Spy



“In every operation there is an above the line and a below the line. Above the line is what you do by the book. Below the line is how you do the job.”
― John le Carré, quote from A Perfect Spy


“And what am I thinking? I am thinking that a man who cannot speak clearly cannot think clearly.”
― John le Carré, quote from A Perfect Spy


About the author

John le Carré
Born place: in Poole, Dorset, England, The United Kingdom
Born date October 19, 1931
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“The waitress's eyes were wide. "Beat you off?”
― Tim Powers, quote from Last Call


“Once, I was a poet, and, like all poets, I spent too long in the Kingdom of Dreams.”
― Neil Gaiman, quote from The Sandman: The Dream Hunters


“That's what this little conversation is all about. The talk about my knives, the stroll on the terrace, the handholding and come-on about what my scar sounds like. Interesting technique. Tell me, what was your next move? Maneuvering me up against the wall here? Or me accidentally falling on your dick?”
― Jennifer Estep, quote from Web of Lies


“into submission. No more punches. Before”
― Vince Flynn, quote from American Assassin


“Comatose, Pa's wife, the slobstress, buried an armchair beneath her bulk.”
― Nick Cave, quote from And the Ass Saw the Angel


Interesting books

Crush It!: Why Now Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion
(21K)
Crush It!: Why Now I...
by Gary Vaynerchuk
The Boy in the Suitcase
(28.7K)
The Boy in the Suitc...
by Lene Kaaberbøl
A Tale of Love and Darkness
(5.7K)
A Tale of Love and D...
by Amos Oz
River of Stars
(5.2K)
River of Stars
by Guy Gavriel Kay
Evil Under the Sun
(34.8K)
Evil Under the Sun
by Agatha Christie
The Sunset Limited
(6.8K)
The Sunset Limited
by Cormac McCarthy

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.