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 the hands of politicians grand designs achieve nothing but new forms of the old misery.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that political plans often fail to bring real change, only replacing old problems with new ones.
In this quote, John Le Carre critiques the effectiveness of politicians by asserting that their ambitious plans and reforms tend to simply reiterate past failures, leading to new but similar forms of suffering and dissatisfaction. It speaks to the notion that without genuine intention and integrity, political endeavors can be fruitless, merely masking the persistent issues rather than resolving them.
Themes
PoliticiansDesignsMiseryChangePolitics
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on political reform, this quote could highlight the skepticism towards politicians' promises.
More from John Le Carre
All quotes βIn 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.
John Le CarreRead
The cat sat on the mat is not a story. The cat sat on the other catβs mat is a story.
John Le CarreRead
The monsters of our childhood do not fade away, neither are they ever wholly monstrous.
John Le CarreRead
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.
John Le CarreRead
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.
John Le CarreRead
Similar quotes
The necessity of a senate is not less indicated by the propensity of all single and numerous assemblies, to yield to the impulse of sudden and violent passions, and to be seduced by factious leaders, into intemperate and pernicious resolutions.
James MadisonRead
It's too much show business and too much prompting, too much artificiality, and not really debates. They're rehearsed appearances.
George H. W. BushRead
It doesn't matter where we begin the personal/political circle, but it matters desperately that we complete it.
Gloria SteinemRead
The politician and the government expert receive their revenues, not from service voluntarily purchased on the market, but from a compulsory levy on the populace. These officials, therefore, wholly lack the pecuniary incentive to care about serving the public properly and competently.
Murray RothbardRead
Republicans may learn they can't appeal to right-wing patriarchs and most women at the same time.
Gloria SteinemRead
Our real battlefield today is Asia and our real battle is the one between democracy and communism. . . . We have to prove to the world and particularly to downtrodden areas of the world which are the natural prey to the principles of communist economics that democracy really brings about happier and better conditions for the people as a whole.
Eleanor RooseveltRead