We've got more. MUCH more I'm happy to say.
First- Lewis Carrol wrote to dream of 6 impossible things before breakfast.
How about just accomplishing them.
They said, "There's no cure...."
There is a cure.
and ...
and ...
Aiutati che Dio
ti aiuta – Helf yourself and God will help you A buon intenditor poche parole –
Few words (are sufficient) for the good listener
A chi fa male,
mai mancano scuse – Who does evil, is never short of excuse
A nemico che
fugge, fa un ponte d’oro – Make a golden bridge for a fleeing foe
A poco a poco –
By little and little
A prima vista –
At first sight
A vostro comodo
– At your leisure, at your convenience
Ad ogni santo
vien sua festa – Every saint has his own festival
Ai mali
estremi, mali rimedi – For severe ills, severe remedies
Aiutati che Dio
ti aiuta – Helf yourself and God will help you
Al fine – To
the end
Al fresco – In
the fresh, in the open air
Altro che! –
Certainly; I should think so
Amor e signoria
non vogliono compania – Love and lordship like no fellowship
Amor non
conosce travaglio – Love never tires
Amor regge
senza legge – Love rules without laws
Amor tutti fa
uguali – Love makes all men equal
Amore è cieco –
Love is blind
Anno di neve,
anno di bene – A snow year, a rich year
Assai ben balla
a chi Fortuna suona – He dances well to whom Fortune pipes
Badate a’ fatti
vostri! – Mind your own business!
Bella cosa far
niente – Idleness is a nice employment (a beautiful thing)
Bella cosa
tosto è rapita – A pretty thing is soon taken
Belle parole
non pascon i gatti – Fine words don’t feed cats
Bene placito –
At pleasure
Bravissimo –
Exceedingly well done
Breve orazione
penetra – God listens to short prayers
Capo d’anno –
New Year’s Day
Capo d’opera –
A masterpiece
Cavaliere
errante – A knight errant, a tramp
Cavallo que
corre non ha bisogno di sproni – Do not spur the willing horse
Cercare il pelo
nell’ uovo – To seek the hair in the egg, to pick faults where there are none.
Che ‘l perder
tempo a chi più sa più spiace – Loss of time most grieveth him who knoweth most
(Dante)
Che non men che
saver, dubbiar m’aggrata – Ignorance not less than knowledge charms (Dante)
Chè per
vendetta mai non sanò piaga – Revenge never healed a wound (Guarini)
Che sarà sarà –
What is to be, will be
Che talor
cresce una beltà un bel manto – Fine clothes often make beauty still more
beautiful (Ariosto)
Chi ama, crede
– He who loves, trusts
Chi be vive,
ben muore – A good life makes an easy death
Chi bestia va a
Roma bestia ritorna – He that goes to Rome a foot returns a fool
Chi cerca mal,
mal trova – He who looks for evil generally finds it
Chi ha l’amor
nel petto, ha lo sprone a’fianchi – He who has love in his chest, has spurs in
his sides
Chi la dura la
vince – He who perseveres wins at last
Chi lar dura la
vince – He that endureth overcomes
Chi non fa, non
falla – He who does nothing makes no blunders
Chi più sa,
meno parla – He who knows most, talks least
Ciò che Dio
vuole, Io voglio – What God wills, I will
Corre lontano
chi non torna mai – He runs far who never turns
Così fan tutte
– That is the way of all women
Così fan tutti
– That is the way of the world
Cui niente sa,
di niente dubita – Who knows nothing, doubts nothing
Dà retta – I
say. Listen.
Da scherzo – In
a playful style
Dai nemici mi
guardo io, dagli amici mi guardi Iddio! – I (will) protect myself from my
enemies; may God protect me from my friends!
Danari fanno
danari – Money makes money
Del male non
fare e paura non avere – Do no evil and have no fear
Detto fatto –
No sooner said, than done
Devotissimo suo
– Yours truly
Dì il vero e
affronterai il diavolo – Speak the truth and shame the devil
Di nuovo –
Again
Dio non voglia
– Heaven forbid
Dio volendo lo
faro – If God wills, I shall do this
Dolce far
niente – The pleasure of idleness
Dove l’oro
parla, ogni lingua tace – Where gold speaks, every tongue is silent
E la sua
volontate è nostra pace – In doing His will we find our peace (Dante)
È meglio aver
poco che niente – Better to have little than nothing
È pur troppo
vero – It is but too true
E son come
d’amor baci baciati // Gl’incontri di due cori amanti amati – Kisses, when
given in love, are, so to speak, the meeting together of two loving hearts
(Guarini)
È un gran
pacier la morte – Death is a great peacemaker (Manzoni)
Eppur, si
muove! – Nevertheless, it moves! (this phrase is ascribed to Galileo)
Fatti maschi,
parole femmine – Facts are male, words are female
Fiasco – An
utter failure
Gli nomini
hanno gli anni che sentono, e le donne quelli che mostrano – Men are as old as
they feel, but women are as old as they look
I gran dolori
sono muti – Great sorrows are mute
In petto –
Concealed within the breast; in reserve
Innamorato –
Lover
L’abito non fa
il monaco – The cowl does not make the monk
L’amor che
muove il sole e l’altre stelle – Love which moves the sun and other stars of
heaven
La calma è la
virtù dei forti – The calm is the virtue of the strong
La donna è
mobile – Woman is a fickle thing
La mala
compagnia è quella che mena gli uomini alla forca – Bad company is what brings
men to the gallows
La povertà è la
madre di tutte le arti – Necessity is the mother of invention
Lasciate ogni
speranza, voi ch’ entrate! – Abandon home, all ye who enter here! (Dante)
Mal comune,
mezzo gaudio – A shared trouble is half joy
Meglio tardi
che mai – Better late than never
Minestrone –
Fast-day soup of the Italian peasants
Morta la
bestia, morto il veneno – When the beast is dead, the venom is dead
Nè Creator nè
creatura fu senz’ amore – Neither Creator nor creature was ever without love
Necessità non
ha legge – Necessity knows no law
Nello stile
antico – In the ancient style
Niente più
tosto si secca che lacrime – Nothing dries sooner than tears
Noi non potemo
avere perfetta vita senza amici – We cannot have a perfect life without friends
(Dante)
Non fa caso –
It is of no importantce
Non mi ricordo
– I do not remember
Non sapere
l’abbicci – To be hopelessly ignorant
Non v’è rosa
senza spina – There is no rose without thorns
Nulla nuova,
buona nuova – No news is good news
Ogni pazzo vuol
dar consiglio – Every fool is ready with advice
Ognuno per sè e
Dio per tutti – Everyone for himself and God for all
Onorate
l’altissima poeta – Honor the noble bard (Dante about Virgil)
Parla bene, ma
parla poco – Speak well, but speak little
Per far effetto
– For appearance’ sake
Poco curante –
Caring little
Prima volta –
The first time
Quel ch’è
fatto, è fatto – What is done is done
Questo non me
calza – That does not please me
Rè galantuomo –
King and gentleman
Rosso di sera,
bel tempo si spera – Red sky in the evening, one hopes for good weather
Sdegno – With
disdain
Se la donna
vuol tutto la puol – What a woman wills, all will
Se non è vero,
è ben trovato – If this it isn’t true, it is well contrived
Senza ceremonie
– Without ceremony
Si scriva – As
follows
Siamo tutti
figli d’Adamo – We are all sons of Adam
Soccorso non
viene mai tardi – Succor never comes too late
Sotto pena di
morte – On pain of death
Speranza mi da
vita – Hope gives me life
Tedesco furor –
The wild fury of the Germans (Petrarch)
Tempo al tempo
– All in good time
Traduttore,
traditore – Translator, traitor
Tre cose belle
in questo mondo: prete parato, cavaliere armato, e donna ornata – Three things
are beautiful in this world: a priest in his vestments, a knight in armor, and
a woman in her ornaments
Tu duca, tu
signore e tu maestro – words addressed by Dante to Virgil in Inferno II, 140
Tutta forza –
Witho all the fource
Tutte le strade
conducono a Roma – All roads lead to Rome
Tutti quanti –
Every one
Tutto è bene
che riesce bene – All is well that ends well
Un bel morir
tutta la vita onora – A noble death is an honor to the whole life
Voler bene – To
wish one well
The Looking Glass War Quotes (showing 1-4 of 4)
“Do you know what love is? I'll tell you: it is whatever you can
still betray.”
― John le Carré, The Looking Glass War
― John le Carré, The Looking Glass War
“She had heard it was easy to
blame others for one's own failures. But that wasn't exactly accurate. It was
easy to blame herself for what had happened--hard to live with it.”
― Frank Beddor, ArchEnemy
― Frank Beddor, ArchEnemy
“It is supposed that power
corrupts,' the caterpillar said in a voice as untroubled as time itself.
"yet the powerful are often corrupt before they are powerful. In fact, I
find that they too often become powerful by being corrupt. Whether real or
perceived, a lack of power can also corrupt.”
― Frank Beddor, ArchEnemy
― Frank Beddor, ArchEnemy
“Silence is hereby outlawed. Silence breeds independent thought,
which in turn breeds dissent.”
― Frank Beddor, The Looking Glass Wars
― Frank Beddor, The Looking Glass Wars
“I've finished running from you, Redd. It's time for you to
run."
--Alyss”
― Frank Beddor, The Looking Glass Wars
--Alyss”
― Frank Beddor, The Looking Glass Wars
“One of the deep secrets of
life is that all that is really worth the doing is what we do for others.”
― Lewis Carroll
― Lewis Carroll
“I wonder if the snow loves
the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up
snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says "Go to sleep,
darlings, till the summer comes again.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
― Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
“If everybody minded their
own business, the world would go around a great deal faster than it does.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
“Alice came to a fork in the
road. 'Which road do I take?' she asked.
'Where do you want to go?' responded the Cheshire Cat.
'I don't know,' Alice answered.
'Then,' said the Cat, 'it doesn't matter.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
'Where do you want to go?' responded the Cheshire Cat.
'I don't know,' Alice answered.
'Then,' said the Cat, 'it doesn't matter.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
“No, no! The adventures first, explanations take such a dreadful
time.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
― Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
tags: adventure, explanations, patience, storytelling
“If you drink much from a bottle marked 'poison' it is certain
to disagree with you sooner or later.”
― Lewis Carroll
― Lewis Carroll
tags: alice-in-wonderland, humor
“Do you know, I always thought unicorns were fabulous monsters,
too? I never saw one alive before!"
Well, now that we have seen each other," said the unicorn, "if you'll believe in me, I'll believe in you.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland And Through The Looking Glass
Well, now that we have seen each other," said the unicorn, "if you'll believe in me, I'll believe in you.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland And Through The Looking Glass
“In a Wonderland they lie, Dreaming as the days go by, Dreaming
as the summers die:
Ever drifting down the stream- Lingering in the golden gleam- Life, what is it but a dream?”
― Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
Ever drifting down the stream- Lingering in the golden gleam- Life, what is it but a dream?”
― Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
“I'm not strange, weird, off,
nor crazy, my reality is just different from yours.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
― Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
“He was part of my dream, of course -- but then I was part of
his dream, too.”
― Lewis Carroll
― Lewis Carroll
“My dear, here we must run as fast as we can, just to stay in place. And
if you wish to go anywhere you must run twice as fast as that.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland “Where should I go?" -Alice. "That depends on where you want to end up." - The Cheshire Cat.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland “Where should I go?" -Alice. "That depends on where you want to end up." - The Cheshire Cat.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
“Just look down the road and tell me if you can see either of
them."
I see nobody on the road." said Alice.
I only wish I had such eyes,"the King remarked in a fretful tone. "To be able to see Nobody! And at such a distance too!”
― Lewis Carroll
I see nobody on the road." said Alice.
I only wish I had such eyes,"the King remarked in a fretful tone. "To be able to see Nobody! And at such a distance too!”
― Lewis Carroll
“Alice had got so much into the way of expecting nothing but
out-of-the-way things to happen, that it seemed quite dull and stupid for life
to go on in the common way.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
― Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
ce:How long is forever? White
Rabbit:Sometimes, just one second.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
“Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.”
― Lewis Carroll, Jabberwocky and Other Poems “There is a place, like no place on earth. A land full of wonder, mystery, and danger. Some say, to survive it, you need to be as mad as a hatter. Which, luckily, I am.”
― Lewis Carroll
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.”
― Lewis Carroll, Jabberwocky and Other Poems “There is a place, like no place on earth. A land full of wonder, mystery, and danger. Some say, to survive it, you need to be as mad as a hatter. Which, luckily, I am.”
― Lewis Carroll
“In another moment down went Alice after it, never once
considering how in the world she was to get out again.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
― Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
“There were times when he
confronted his own image as a man confronts an empty valley, and the vision
propelled him forward again to experience as despair compels us to extinction.
Sometimes he was like a man in flight, but running toward the enemy, desperate
to feel upon his vanishing body the blows that would prove his being; desperate
to imprint upon his sad conformity the mark of real purpose, desperate perhaps,
as Leclerc had hinted, to abdicate his conscience in order to discover God.”
― John le Carré, The Looking Glass War
― John le Carré, The Looking Glass War
“For Heaven’s sake, Adrian,
do you think Intelligence consists of unassailable philosophical truths? Does
every priest have to prove that Christ was born on Christmas Day?”
― John le Carré, The Looking Glass War: A George Smiley Novel
― John le Carré, The Looking Glass War: A George Smiley Novel
“He was witnessing an insane
relay race in which each contestant ran faster and longer than the last,
arriving nowhere but his own destruction”
― John le Carré, The Looking Glass War
― John le Carré, The Looking Glass War
“It is sometimes braver to
run. She who runs from her enemies until she has the strength to do otherwise
is both brave and wise.”
― Frank Beddor
― Frank Beddor
“Waking and sleeping she had
demanded to know where she belonged in a white man's world, and how and where
she should invest her ambition and her humanity”
― John le Carré “Give a man a car of his own and he leaves humility and common sense behind him in the garage.”
― John le Carré, Call for the Dead
― John le Carré “Give a man a car of his own and he leaves humility and common sense behind him in the garage.”
― John le Carré, Call for the Dead
A desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world.”
― John le Carré
― John le Carré
“Lo raccontò in maniera semplice ma precisa,
come un buon soldato rievoca una battaglia, non più col sapore della vittoria o
della sconfitta ma unicamente con l'emozione del ricordo.”
― John le Carré, La Talpa
― John le Carré, La Talpa
“But despite such energetic mental exercise,
the ghosts of time present would intrude and drive his dreams away. It was Ann
who had robbed him of his peace, Ann who had once made the present so important
and taught him the habit of reality, and when she went there was nothing.”
― John le Carré, Call for the Dead
― John le Carré, Call for the Dead
“However closely we live together, at whatever
time of day or night we sound the deepest thoughts in one another, we know
nothing.”
― John le Carré, Call for the Dead
― John le Carré, Call for the Dead
“But gossip must see its characters
in black and white, equip them with
sins and motives easily conveyed in
the shorthand of conversation.”
― John le Carré, Call for the Dead
in black and white, equip them with
sins and motives easily conveyed in
the shorthand of conversation.”
― John le Carré, Call for the Dead
Get quotes daily
John le Carré > Quotes
John le
Carré quotes (showing 91-120 of 199)
“Sometimes you do it to save face, thought Jerry, other times
you just do it because you haven't done your job unless you've scared yourself
to death. Other times again, you go in order to remind yourself that survival
is a fluke. But mostly you go because the others go; for machismo;
and because in order to belong you must share.”
― John le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy
― John le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy
tags: journalism, reporting
“To possess another language is to possess another soul.”
― John le Carré
― John le Carré
“Perhaps it was the 'sir's' that turned the trick. At their
first meeting it was Mr. Woodrow, or when they felt bold, Sandy. Now it was
sir, advising Woodrow that these two junior police officers were not his
colleagues, not his friends, but lower-class outsiders poking their noses into
the exclusive club that had given him standing and protection these seventeen
years.”
― John le Carré
― John le Carré
tags: the-constant-gardener
“Smiley himself was one of those solitaires who seem to have
come into the world fully educated at the age of eighteen. 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 anonimity and his safety. His fear makes him servile - he could
embrace the shoppers who jostle him in their impatience, and force him from the
pavement. He could adore the officials, the police, the bus conductors, for the
terse indifference of their attitudes. (ch. 9)”
― John le Carré, A Murder of Quality
― John le Carré, A Murder of Quality
“There are always a dozen reasons for doing nothing," Ann
liked to say--it was a favourite apologia, indeed, for many of her
misdemeanours. "There is only one reason for doing something. And that's
because you want to." Or have to? Ann would furiously deny it: coercion,
she would say, is just another word for doing what you want; or for not doing
what you are afraid of.”
― John le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
― John le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
“However closely we live together, at whatever time of day or
night we sound the deepest thoughts in one another, we know nothing.”
― John le Carré, Call for the Dead
― John le Carré, Call for the Dead
“But gossip must see its characters
in black and white, equip them with
sins and motives easily conveyed in
the shorthand of conversation.”
― John le Carré, Call for the Dead
in black and white, equip them with
sins and motives easily conveyed in
the shorthand of conversation.”
― John le Carré, Call for the Dead
tags: human-behaviour
“He knew how intelligent men could be broken by the stupidity of
their superiors, how weeks of patient work night and day could be cast aside by
such a man”
― John le Carré, Call for the Dead
― John le Carré, Call for the Dead
tags: human-nature
“Outside the school's walls the Swinging Sixties are in full
cry, but inside them the band of Empire plays on. Twice-daily chapel services
praise the school's war dead to the detriment of its living, value the white
man above lesser breeds, and preach chastity to boys who can find sexual
stimulation in a Times editorial.”
― John le Carré, Absolute Friends
― John le Carré, Absolute Friends
“He had the nerve not to drink in a University where you proved
your manhood by being drunk most of your first year.”
― John le Carré, Call for the Dead
― John le Carré, Call for the Dead
tags: human-nature
“society is unconcerned with the aftermath of sensation.”
― John le Carré, Call for the Dead
― John le Carré, Call for the Dead
“It was from us they learnt the secret of life: that we grow old
without growing wise. They realized that nothing happened when we grew up: no
blinding light on the road to Damascus, no sudden feeling of maturity.”
― John le Carré, A Murder of Quality
― John le Carré, A Murder of Quality
“Look, we are getting to be old men, and we've spent our lives
looking for the weaknesses in one another's systems... Don't you think it's
time to recognise that there is as little worth on your side as there is on
mine?”
― John le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
― John le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
tags: humanity, logical-thinking
“Can't you see it's the same? The same guns, the same children
dying in the streets? Only the dream has changed, the blood is the same colour.
Is that what you want?”
― John le Carré, Call for the Dead
― John le Carré, Call for the Dead
“I love you,' he repeated. 'All my failures were preparations
for meeting you.”
― John le Carré
― John le Carré
tags: the-russia-house
“Un buen escritor no es experto en nada excepto en él mismo. Y,
en lo referente a ese tema, si es listo, se morderá la lengua.”
― John le Carré
― John le Carré
“.. si chiese se esisteva amore tra gli esseri
umani che non fosse basato su una specie di illusione volontaria”
― John le Carré “When a problem threatens to engulf you, there's nothing like irrelevant detail to keep your head above water.”
― John le Carré, The Russia House
― John le Carré “When a problem threatens to engulf you, there's nothing like irrelevant detail to keep your head above water.”
― John le Carré, The Russia House
“A good writer is an expert on nothing except
himself. And on that subject, if he is wise, he holds his tongue. Some of you
may wonder why I am reluctant to submit to interviews on television and radio
and in the press. The answer is that nothing that I write is authentic. It is
the stuff of dreams, not reality. Yet I am treated by the media as though I
wrote espionage handbooks.”
― John le Carré
― John le Carré
“CIA Interrogator:
Have you ever met any jazz musicians you would describe, or who would describe themselves, as anarchists?
Bartholomew 'Barley' Scott Blair:
Hmmm... ah, there was a trombone player, Wilfred Baker.
Bartholomew 'Barley' Scott Blair:
He's the only jazz musician I can think of who is completely devoid of anarchist tendencies.”
― John le Carré, The Russia House
Have you ever met any jazz musicians you would describe, or who would describe themselves, as anarchists?
Bartholomew 'Barley' Scott Blair:
Hmmm... ah, there was a trombone player, Wilfred Baker.
Bartholomew 'Barley' Scott Blair:
He's the only jazz musician I can think of who is completely devoid of anarchist tendencies.”
― John le Carré, The Russia House
“I love the stillness of the wood;
I love the music of the rill:
I love the couch in pensive mod
Upon some silent hill.
Scarce heard, beneath yon arching trees,
The silver-crested ripples pass;
and, like a mimic brook, the breeze
Whispers among the grass.
Here from the world I win release,
Nor scorn of men, nor footstep rude,
Break into mar the holy peace
Of this great solitude.
Here may the silent tears I weep
Lull the vested spirit into rest,
As infants sob themselves to sleep
Upon a mothers breast.
But when the bitter hour is gone,
And the keen throbbing pangs are still,
Oh, sweetest then to couch alone
Upon some silent hill!
To live in joys that once have been,
To put the cold world out of sight,
And deck life's drear and barren scene
With hues of rainbow-light.
For what to man the gift of breath,
If sorrow be his lot below;
If all the day that ends in death
Be dark with clouds of woe?
Shall the poor transport of an hour
Repay long years of sore distress-
The fragrance of a lonely flower
Make glad the wilderness?
Ye golden house of life's young spring,
Of innocence, of love and truth!
Bright, beyond all imagining,
Thou fairy-dream of youth!
I'd give all wealth that years have piled,
The slow result of Life's decay,
To be once more a little child
For on bright summers day.”
― Lewis Carroll
I love the music of the rill:
I love the couch in pensive mod
Upon some silent hill.
Scarce heard, beneath yon arching trees,
The silver-crested ripples pass;
and, like a mimic brook, the breeze
Whispers among the grass.
Here from the world I win release,
Nor scorn of men, nor footstep rude,
Break into mar the holy peace
Of this great solitude.
Here may the silent tears I weep
Lull the vested spirit into rest,
As infants sob themselves to sleep
Upon a mothers breast.
But when the bitter hour is gone,
And the keen throbbing pangs are still,
Oh, sweetest then to couch alone
Upon some silent hill!
To live in joys that once have been,
To put the cold world out of sight,
And deck life's drear and barren scene
With hues of rainbow-light.
For what to man the gift of breath,
If sorrow be his lot below;
If all the day that ends in death
Be dark with clouds of woe?
Shall the poor transport of an hour
Repay long years of sore distress-
The fragrance of a lonely flower
Make glad the wilderness?
Ye golden house of life's young spring,
Of innocence, of love and truth!
Bright, beyond all imagining,
Thou fairy-dream of youth!
I'd give all wealth that years have piled,
The slow result of Life's decay,
To be once more a little child
For on bright summers day.”
― Lewis Carroll
Which way you ought to go depends on where you want to get
to...”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
“I wish I hadn't cried so much!” said Alice, as she swam about,
trying to find her way out.
I shall be punished for it now, I suppose, by being drowned in my own tears !”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
I shall be punished for it now, I suppose, by being drowned in my own tears !”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
“Thy loving smile will surely hail
The love-gift of a fairy tale.”
― Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There
The love-gift of a fairy tale.”
― Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There
“Les mauvaises langues ont l'habitude de voir leurs cobayes tout
en noir ou tout en blanc et de leur attribuer des défauts ou des mobiles que le
style sténographique de la conversation peut aisément suggérer.”
― John le Carré, Call for the Dead
― John le Carré, Call for the Dead
“Il savait qu'un être intelligent pouvait être neutralisé par la
stupidité de ses supérieurs, et des semaines d'un travail patient, acharné -
vingt-quatre heures sur vingt-quatre - annihilées par ce genre de personnages.
(chapitre 6)”
― John le Carré, Call for the Dead
― John le Carré, Call for the Dead
“si les Américains s'étaient donné autant de mal pour le
désarmement que pour envoyer un pauvre type sur la lune, ou coller des rayures
roses dans le dentifrice, on l'aurait depuis longtemps, le désarmement. (...)
le plus grand péché de l'Occident était de croire qu'il pouvait foutre en l'air
le système soviétique par une surenchère dans la course aux armements, parce
que dans ce cas-là, on jouait avec le destin de l'humanité. Et qu'en mettant
sabre au clair, l'Ouest avait fourni un bon prétexte aux dirigeants soviétiques
pour garder leur rideau baissé et instituer un État militaire. (chapitre
4)”
― John le Carré, The Russia House
― John le Carré, The Russia House
“si quelque chose peut nous sauver, ce dont je doute, ce sera la
vanité (...) aucun chef d'état ne souhaite passer à la postérité comme étant le
taré qui a anéanti son pays en un après-midi. Et puis la trouille, peut-être.
Dieu soit loué! la plupart de nos beaux politiciens ont une aversion
narcissique pour l'auto-destruction. (chapitre 5)”
― John le Carré, The Russia House
― John le Carré, The Russia House
“Les experts sont des fanatiques. Ils ne résolvent rien! Ils
sont à la solde du système qui les emploie. Ils le perpétuent. Quand nous nous
ferons torturer, ce sera par des experts. Quand nous serons pendus, ce sera par
des experts. (...) Quand le monde sera détruit, ce ne sera pas par des fous,
mais par de sages experts et par l'ignorance incommensurable des bureaucrates.
(chapitre 10)”
― John le Carré, The Russia House
― John le Carré, The Russia House
“What did theories matter any more? She wanted
to say. The rats have taken over the ship, it's often as simple as that; the
rest is narcissistic crap. It must be. (...) For exploitation read property and
you have the whole bit. First the exploiter hits the wage-slave over the head
with his superior wealth; then he brainwashes him into believing that the
pursuit of property is a valid motive for breaking him at the grindstone. That
way he has him hooked twice over. (...) "You disappoint me, Charlie. All
of a sudden you lack consistency. You've made the perceptions. Why don't you go
out and do something about them? Why do you appear here one minute as an
intellectual who has the eye and brain to see what is not visible to the
deluded masses, the next you have not the courage to go out and perform a small
service - like theft - like murder - like blowing something up - say, a police
station - for the benefit of those whose hearts and minds are enslaved by the
capitalist overlords? Come on, Charlie, where's the action? You're the free
soul around here. Don't give us the words, give us the deeds." (...) Anger
suspended her bewilderment and dulled the pain of her disgrace (...) She wished
terribly that she could go mad so that everyone would be sorry for her; she
wished she was just a raving lunatic waiting to be let off, not a stupid little
fool of a radical actress (...) (part I, chapter 7)”
― John le Carré, The Little Drummer Girl
― John le Carré, The Little Drummer Girl
“The greatest crime is to do nothing because we
can only do a little (...) I feel nothing, because feeling is subversive and
contrary to military discipline. Therefore I do not feel, but I fight and
therefore I exist. (part I, chapter 10)”
― John le Carré, The Little Drummer Girl
― John le Carré, The Little Drummer Girl
“Perhaps we didn't win anyway. (the Cold War) Perhaps they just
lost. Or perhaps, without the bonds of ideological conflict to restrain us any
more, our troubles are just beginning.”
― John le Carré
― John le Carré
“They might have you, and they pay badly enough to guarantee you
decent company.”
― John le Carré, Call for the Dead
― John le Carré, Call for the Dead
“They loved each other and believed they loved
mankind, they fought each other and believed they fought the world.”
― John le Carré, Call for the Dead
― John le Carré, Call for the Dead
“A man who lives a part, not to others but alone, is exposed to
obvious psychological dangers. In itself the practice of deception is not
particularly exacting. It is a matter of experience, a professional expertise.
It is a facility most of us can acquire. But while a confidence trickster, a
play actor or a gambler can return from his performance to the ranks of his
admirers, the secret agent enjoys no such relief. For him, deception is first a
matter of self defense. He must protect himself not only from without, but from
within, and against the most natural of impulses. Though he earn a fortune, his
role may forbid him the purchase of a razor. Though he be erudite, it can
befall him to mumble nothing but banalities. Though he be an affectionate
husband and father, he must within all circumstances without himself from those
with whom he should naturally confide. Aware of the overwhelming temptations
which assail a man permanently isolated in his deceit, Limas resorted to the
course which armed him best. Even when he was alone, he compelled himself to
live with the personality he had assumed. It is said that Balzac on his
deathbed inquired anxiously after the health and prosperity of characters he had
created. Similarly, Limas, without relinquishing the power of invention,
identified himself with what he had invented. The qualities he had exhibited to
Fiedler: the restless uncertainty, the protective arrogance concealing shame
were not approximations, but extensions of qualities he actually possessed.
Hence, also, the slight dragging of the feet, the aspect of personal neglect,
the indifference to food, and an increasing reliance on alcohol and tobacco.
When alone, he remained faithful to these habits. He would even exaggerate them
a little, mumbling to himself about the iniquities of his service. Only very
rarely, as now, going to bed that evening, did he allow himself the dangerous
luxury of admitting the great lie that he lived.”
― John le Carré, The Spy Who Came In from the Cold
― John le Carré, The Spy Who Came In from the Cold
“Intelligence work has one moral law - it is justified by
results.”
― John le Carré, The Spy Who Came In from the Cold
― John le Carré, The Spy Who Came In from the Cold
“Always speak the truth, think before you speak, and write it
down afterwards.”
― Lewis Carroll
― Lewis Carroll
“I wonder if I've been changed in the night? Let me think: was I
the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a
little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is 'Who in the
world am I?' Ah, that's the great puzzle!”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
tags: humor
“When you are describing,
A shape, or sound, or tint;
Don't state the matter plainly,
But put it in a hint;
And learn to look at all things,
With a sort of mental squint.”
― Lewis Carroll
A shape, or sound, or tint;
Don't state the matter plainly,
But put it in a hint;
And learn to look at all things,
With a sort of mental squint.”
― Lewis Carroll
“When I use a word, it means just what I choose
it to mean—neither more, nor less.”
― Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There
― Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There
“Go on till you come to the end; then stop.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
― Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
“The more identities a man has, the more they express the person
they conceal.”
― John le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
― John le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
“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 Carré
― John le Carré
“After all, if you make your
enemy look like a fool, you lose the justification for engaging him.”
― John le Carré
― John le Carré
“To possess another language, Charlemagne tells us, is to
possess another soul. German is such a language. Once you have it in your head,
you can go there anytime, you can close the door, you have a refuge.”
― John le Carré
― John le Carré
“Tessa distinguished absolutely between pain observed and pain
shared. Pain observed is journalistic pain. It’s diplomatic pain. It’s
television pain, over as soon as you switch off your beastly set. Those who
watch suffering and do nothing about it, in her book, were little better than
those who inflicted it. They were the bad Samaritans.”
― John le Carré, The Constant Gardener
― John le Carré, The Constant Gardener
“You should have died when I killed you.”
― John le Carré
― John le Carré
“All men are born free: just not for long.”
― John le Carré, A Murder of Quality
― John le Carré, A Murder of Quality
“Our power knows no limits, yet we cannot find food for a
starving child, or a home for a refugee. Our knowledge is without measure and
we build the weapons that will destroy us. We live on the edge of ourselves,
terrified of the darkness within. We have harmed, corrupted and ruined, we have
made mistakes and deceived.”
― John le Carré
― John le Carré
tags: helplessness, power, world-order
“Ideologies have no heart of their own. They're the whores and
angels of our striving selves.”
― John le Carré
― John le Carré
“There was nothing dishonourable in not being blown about by
every little modern wind. Better to have worth, to entrench, to be an oak of
one's own generation.”
― John le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
― John le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
tags: choices
“Wives?" she asked, interrupting him. For a moment, he had
assumed she was tuning to the novel. Then he saw her waiting, suspicious eyes,
so he replied cautiously, "None active," as if wives were
volcanoes.”
― John le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy
― John le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy
“It is also the pardonable vanity of lonely people everywhere to
assume that they have no counterparts.”
― John le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy
― John le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy
“George Smiley: [quoting an old letter from Bill Haydon about
Jim Prideaux] He has that heavy quiet that commands. He's my other half.
Between us we'd make one marvelous man. He asks nothing better than to be in my
company or that of my wicked, divine friends, and I'm vastly tickled by the
compliment. He's virgin, about eight foot tall, and built by the same firm that
did Stonehenge”
― John le Carré
― John le Carré
“Treason is very much a matter of habit, Smiley decided.”
― John le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
― John le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
“A lot of people see doubt as legitimate philosophical posture.
They think of themselves in the middle, whereas of course really, they're
nowhere.”
― John le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy
― John le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy
tags: philosophy-of-life
“People like you should be stopped, Mr. Woodrow,' she mused
aloud, with a puzzled shake of her wise head. 'You think you're solving the
world's problems but actually you're the problem.”
― John le Carré
― John le Carré
tags: the-constant-gardener
“We lie to one another every day, in the sweetest way, often
unconsciously. We dress ourselves and compose ourselves in order to present
ourselves to one another.”
― John le Carré
― John le Carré
“Gerald Westerby, he told himself. You were present at your
birth. You were present at your several marriages and at some of your divorces,
and you will certainly be present at your funeral. High time, in our considered
view, that you were present at certain other crucial moments in your
history.”
― John le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy
― John le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy
“Jesus Christ only had twelve, you know, and one of them was a
double.”
― John le Carré
― John le Carré
“We've had enough." He took back the report and jammed it
under his arm. "We've had a bellyful, in fact."
"And like everyone who's had enough," said Control as Alleline noisily left the room, "he wants more.”
― John le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
"And like everyone who's had enough," said Control as Alleline noisily left the room, "he wants more.”
― John le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
tags: ambition, desires, dissatisfaction, greed, saturation
“Only Esmeralda was not weeping. Instead she wore that wooden
look that whites mistake for churlishenss or indifference. Woodrew knew it was
neither. It was familiarity. This how real life is constituted, it said. This
is grief and hatred and people hacked to death. This is the everyday we have known
since we were born and you Wazungu have not.”
― John le Carré
― John le Carré
tags: the-constant-gardener
“A committee is an animal with four back legs.”
― John le Carré
― John le Carré
“Smiley was soaked to the skin and God as a punishment had
removed all taxis from the face of London.”
“It struck him as a bit unfair that, at the age of eight, he
should have manifested the same sense of solitude that haunted him at
forty-three.”
“Tyranny is like the electric wiring in an old house. A tyrant
dies, the new tyrant takes possession, and all he has to do is drop the
switch.”
“It is said that men condemned to death are subject to sudden
moments of elation; as if, like moths in the fire, their destruction were
coincidental with attainment.”
― John le Carré, The Spy Who Came In from the Cold
― John le Carré, The Spy Who Came In from the Cold
What else has a journalist to do these days, after all, but report
life's miseries?”
“...in the hands of politicians grand designs achieve nothing
but new forms of the old misery...”
“The most peaceble people will do the most terrible things when
they're pushed.”
“Yet it's not for want of future that I'm here, he thought. It's
for want of a present.”
“God is in his Heaven and the first night was a wow.”
“...also took for granted that secret services were the only
real measure of a nations political health, the only real expression of its
subconscious.”
“Look... we're getting to be old men, and we've spent our lives
looking for the weaknesses in one another's systems. I can see through Eastern
values just as you can see through our Western ones. Both of us, I am sure,
have experienced ad nauseam the technical satisfactions of this wretched war.
But now your own side is going to shoot you. Don't you think it's time to
recognise that there is as little worth on your side as there is on
mine?”
“A dead man is the worst enemy alive, I thought. You can't alter
his power over you. You can't alter what you love or owe. And it's too late to
ask him for his absolution. He has beaten you all ways.”
caused him a moment's indecision. 'Oh, but
society does,' he wanted to reply; 'society is an association of
minorities.”
“Everything he admired or loved had been the product of intense
individualism. ...when had mass philosophies ever brought benefit or
wisdom?”
― John le Carré, Call for the Dead
― John le Carré, Call for the Dead
“No country was ever easier to spy on, Tom, no nation so
open-hearted with its secrets, so quick to air them, confide them, or consign
them too early to the junk heap of planned American obsolescence. I am too
young to know whether there was a time when Americans were able to restrain
their admirable passion to communicate, but I doubt it. Certainly the path has
been downhill since 1945, for it was quickly apparent that information which
ten years ago would have cost Axl's service thousands of dollars in precious
hard currency could by the mid-70s be had for a few coppers from the Washington
Post. We could have resented this sometimes, if we had smaller natures, for
there are few things more vexing in the spy world than landing a scoop for
Prague and London one week, only to read the same material in Aviation Weekly
the next. But we did not complain. In the great fruit garden of American
technology, there were pickings enough for everyone and none of us need ever
want for anything again.”
“This is a war," Lemas replied. "It's graphic and
unpleasant because it's fought on a tiny scale, at close range; fought with a
wastage of innocent life sometimes, I admit. But it's nothing, nothing at all
besides other wars - the last or the next.”
― John le Carré, The Spy Who Came In from the Cold
― John le Carré, The Spy Who Came In from the Cold
“A good writer can watch a cat pad across the street and know
what it is to be pounced upon by a Bengal tiger.”
“Haydon had found his charm again. He could do that at the drop
of a hat. He drew you and he repelled you. I remember that exactly. He danced
all ways for you, playing your emotions against each other because he had none
of his own.”
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