I began writing when I was still in the British Foreign Service, and it was then understood that even if you wrote about butterfly collecting, you used another name.
John Le CarreRead
In my day, MI6 - which I called the Circus in the books - stank of wartime nostalgia. People were defined by secret cachet: one man did something absolutely extraordinary in Norway; another was the darling of the French Resistance. We didn't even show passes to go in and out of the building.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the allure and mystique of secretive service during wartime.
John Le Carre's quote evokes a sense of nostalgia for the era of espionage during and after the war, highlighting how individuals were defined by their extraordinary contributions to secretive operations. It suggests that the mystique of MI6, referred to as 'the Circus,' was deeply intertwined with the personal stories of bravery and intrigue, emphasizing a time when the very act of being part of such a secretive world carried an exceptional significance.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about the romanticism of espionage in literature and history.
I began writing when I was still in the British Foreign Service, and it was then understood that even if you wrote about butterfly collecting, you used another name.
In every war zone that I've been in, there has been a reality and then there has been the public perception of why the war was being fought. In every crisis, the issues have been far more complex than the public has been allowed to know.
The cat sat on the mat is not a story. The cat sat on the other cat’s mat is a story.
The monsters of our childhood do not fade away, neither are they ever wholly monstrous.
Coming home from very lonely places, all of us go a little mad: whether from great personal success, or just an all-night drive, we are the sole survivors of a world no one else has ever seen.
If I had to put a name to it, I would wish that all my books were entertainments. I think the first thing you've got to do is grab the reader by the ear, and make him sit down and listen. Make him laugh, make him feel. We all want to be entertained at a very high level.
The only freedom is the freedom from the known.
What is the real breath of a man — the breathing out or the breathing in?
I never close a door on any other religion. Most of the time, some part of it makes sense to me. I don't believe everyone has to chant just because I chant. I believe all religion is about touching something inside of yourself.
Only when human sorrows are turned into a toy with glaring colors will baby people become interested - for a while at least. The people are a very fickle baby that must have new toys every day.
The writers of the French enlightenment had deliberately used blasphemy as a weapon, refusing to accept the power of the Church to set limiting points on thought.
A: There is no grand scheme of things. B: If there were a grand scheme of things, the fact – the fact – that we are not equipped to perceive it, either by natural or supernatural means, is a nightmarish obscenity. C: The very notion of a grand scheme of things is a nightmarish obscenity.
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