If you see the world as gloomily as I see it, the only thing to do is laugh or shoot yourself. - John le Carré

The English! The rich have eaten your future and your poor have given them the food—that’s what’s happened to the English.

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

Obscurity was his nature, as well as his profession. The byways of espionage are not populated by the brash and colourful adventurers of fiction. A man who, like Smiley, has lived and worked for years among his country’s enemies learns only one prayer: that he may never, never be noticed. Assimilation is his highest aim, he learns to love the crowds who pass him in the street without a glance; he clings to them for his anonymity and his safety.