I thought it would be valuable to record the events—even if they did not take place. - John le Carré

He had come to the end of the chase, and was already sickened by the kill.

“Look,” he said. “We talk academic here, you know, wear academic dress and hold high table dinners in the Common Room; we have long graces in Latin that none of us can translate. We go to the Abbey and the wives sit in the hencoop in their awful hats. But it’s a charade. It means nothing.

Alec, what do you believe in? Don't laugh—tell me. She waited and at last he said: I believe an eleven bus will take me to Hammersmith. I don't believe it's driven by Father Christmas.