John le Carre Quotes
I wrote 'The Spy Who Came in from the Cold' at the age of 30 under intense, unshared personal stress and in extreme privacy. As an intelligence officer in the guise of a junior diplomat at the British Embassy in Bonn, I was a secret to my colleagues, and much of the time to myself.
Quotes to Explore
-
I'd rather learn from one bird how to sing than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance.
-
Prior to the Civil War, most libraries were either privately owned or housed in universities or churches.
-
A lot of my work involves instilling objects with the power of touch - a transference of soul, spirit, energy through actions.
-
Think of an economy where people could be an artist or a photographer or a writer without worrying about keeping their day job in order to have health insurance.
-
The best restriction I learned was getting into the habit of doing something, even if I didn't feel like it, instead of running away from it. Sometimes good work needs to be earned, and when you can overcome yourself, the muse notices and celebrates.
-
Every man prefers to look at a well-shaped woman instead of a rubber ball.
-
The lives of African-Americans in this country are characterized by violence for most of our history. Much of that violence, at least to some extent, you know, done by the very state that's supposed to protect them.
-
I've been on the campaign trail so long, some of my wine has turned to vinegar.
-
Pure art is a noble pursuit. Applied art is a business. That's one reason design firms have been so eager of late to add consulting and manufacturing to their core aesthetic competencies.
-
Writing is not a matter of choice. Writers have to write. It is somehow in their temperament, in the blood, in tradition.
-
I want to still be able to garden while I can bend over.
-
Peptic ulcers became more common in the 20th century at the same time that these theories of Freud and other psychoanalysts became popular. And somehow those meshed, and this tradition emerged that ulcers were caused by stress or turmoil in one's life.
-
Life in a Chinese village is much more organised because the Chinese Communist Party has a presence even in the remotest Chinese village - a presence of the kind that no governmental or non-governmental organisation has in Indian villages.
-
The most important message that I can give to you and to all the world is to keep the commandments of God.
-
I've been recognized very seldom. I think I just look different in person than I do as the character.
-
By understanding and harnessing the forces that drive human behavior, you can create a self-sustaining philanthropic effort that reaches millions of people. It begins with an entrepreneurial attitude: take an idea and execute on that idea. If it doesn't work, learn why and build on what you've learned.
-
As a species, we can at times be dimwitted and cruel. But we're also capable of learning.
-
I fed my ego, but not my soul.
-
I've done nothing wrong. Some people just don't like me. Maybe I'm somebody that's easy to dislike, but I don't get it. Whatever. I'll do what I do.
-
Everyone wants to be sexy.
-
My first full year of touring, I did 300 days on the road. That was not including the travel time or publicity or anything else - that was just dates. I was home probably less than 50 days that year.
-
Watching cold fusion is like watching water boil in slow motion. First, sufficient deuterium has to penetrate the palladium electrode. This can take a few weeks. Then, if excess heat is generated during the next month or two, accurate temperature readings require extreme precautions to exclude environmental effects.
-
It was an hour and a half plane ride, so I slept. I try to sleep because that's probably the only time I get to get my real sleep. When I can't sleep I read books or watch movies.
-
I wrote 'The Spy Who Came in from the Cold' at the age of 30 under intense, unshared personal stress and in extreme privacy. As an intelligence officer in the guise of a junior diplomat at the British Embassy in Bonn, I was a secret to my colleagues, and much of the time to myself.
