Zitate von John le Carré

„Wie lange kann man für den Frieden kämpfen, ohne Krieg zu führen?“

—  John le Carré

im Gespräch mit Anton Schaller in Das Sonntags Interview (SRF) aus dem Jahr 1989, YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3cxiM8ihxM&list=TLPQMTQxMjIwMjAzRsM2TUTf2w&index=1

„Wenn man von einem freien Aserbaidschan spricht, dann spricht man auch von einem neuen Massaker an den Armeniern. Wenn man von freien asiatischen Staaten in der Sowjetunion spricht, spricht man von einem extremen Islamismus in diesen Staaten. In der westlichen sowjetischen Union ein neuer Antisemitismus alter Art. Das Zerbröckeln der Sowjetunion ist nicht in unserem Vorteil. Vielleicht kann man aus einem Empire ein Commonwealth machen. Einfach zu sagen: Wir haben gewonnen, Ihr habt verloren, zum Teufel mit Euch, ist sehr gefährlich.“

—  John le Carré

im Gespräch mit Anton Schaller in Das Sonntags Interview (SRF) aus dem Jahr 1989, YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3cxiM8ihxM&list=TLPQMTQxMjIwMjAzRsM2TUTf2w&index=1

„Autoren, deren Romane sich wie Flugschriften des Protestes oder der Ablehnung lesen, sind oft völlig gleichgültig gegenüber den Reformen, die sie auslösen. Wenn ein solcher Dichter über die Not anderer weint, dann benützt er ihren Schmerz, um seinen eigenen zu veranschaulichen.“

—  John le Carré

„[…] das ist meiner Ansicht nach ein so großes Verbrechen, dass ich dafür keine Entschuldigung finde.“

—  John le Carré

über Folter, Stern Nr. 46/2008 vom 6. November 2008, S. 182 http://www.stern.de/kultur/buecher/john-le-carr233-wenn-du-nicht-fuer-uns-bist-bist-du-gegen-uns-645240.html

„Die Amerikaner haben keinen großen Respekt vor der nationalen Psyche anderer Völker gezeigt. Weil sie grundsätzlich denken, dass jeder so sein will wie die Amerikaner. Das halte ich, gelinde gesagt, für ein Problem.“

—  John le Carré

Stern Nr. 46/2008 vom 6. November 2008, S. 185 http://www.stern.de/kultur/buecher/2-john-le-carr233-wenn-du-nicht-fuer-uns-bist-bist-du-gegen-uns-645240.html

„Wenn jemand Folter unterstützt, ist er keiner näheren psychologischen Betrachtung wert.“

—  John le Carré

Stern Nr. 46/2008 vom 6. November 2008, S. 180 http://www.stern.de/kultur/buecher/john-le-carr233-wenn-du-nicht-fuer-uns-bist-bist-du-gegen-uns-645240.html

„If you're in a hole, don't dig, they say.“

—  John le Carré, buch The Mission Song

The Mission Song (2006)

„Never trade a secret, you'll always get the short end of the bargain.“

—  John le Carré, buch The Mission Song

The Mission Song (2006)

„There's one thing worse than change and that's the status quo.“

—  John le Carré, buch Smiley's People

Smiley's People (1979)

„America has entered one of its periods of historical madness“

—  John le Carré

"The United States of America Has Gone Mad" (2003)
Kontext: America has entered one of its periods of historical madness, but this is the worst I can remember: worse than McCarthyism, worse than the Bay of Pigs and in the long term potentially more disastrous than the Vietnam War.

„I think what gives my works whatever universality they have is that they use the metaphysical secret world to describe some realities of the overt world.“

—  John le Carré

As quoted in "Master of the Secret World: John le Carré on Deception, Storytelling and American Hubris" by Andrew Ross, in Salon (21 October 1996); also in Conversations with John le Carré (2004) edited by Matthew Joseph Bruccoli and Judith Baughman, p. 141
Kontext: I use the furniture of espionage to amuse the reader, to make the reader listen to me, because most people like to read about intrigue and spies. I hope to provide a metaphor for the average reader's daily life. Most of us live in a slightly conspiratorial relationship with our employer and perhaps with our marriage. I think what gives my works whatever universality they have is that they use the metaphysical secret world to describe some realities of the overt world.

„I remain terrified of the capacity of the media, the capacity of spin doctors, here and abroad, particularly the United States media, to perpetuate false lies, perpetuate lies.“

—  John le Carré

„No problem exists in isolation, one must first reduce it to its basic components, then tackle each component in turn.“

—  John le Carré, buch The Mission Song

The Mission Song (2006)

„To operate an intelligence network against the Islamist terror is terribly difficult because they don't have a central command and control center such as we would understand. Therefore you cannot penetrate at the top and find out what will happen on the ground.“

—  John le Carré

Radio interview (November 2008)

„This is a war," Leamas 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 beside other wars – the last or the next.“

—  John le Carré

The Spy Who Came In From the Cold (1963)

„Who do you think spies are: priests, saints and martyrs? They’re a squalid procession of vain fools, traitors, too, yes; pansies, sadists and drunkards, people who play cowboys and Indians to brighten their rotten lives. Do you think they sit like monks in London balancing the rights and wrongs? I’d have killed Mundt if I could, I hate his guts; but not now. It so happens they need him. They need him so that the great moronic mass that you admire can sleep soundly in their beds at night. They need him for the safety of ordinary, crummy people like you and me.“

—  John le Carré

Quelle: The Spy Who Came In From the Cold (1963), p.231

„[She] reports that [the company] recently donated fifty million dollars to a major U. S. teaching hospital, plus salaries and expenses for three top clinicians and six research assistants. Corruption of university Common Room affiliations is even easier: professorial chairs, biotech labs, research foundations, etc. 'Unbought scientific opinion is increasingly hard to find.“

—  John le Carré

The Constant Gardener (2001)

„A good man knows when to sacrifice himself, a bad man survives but loses his soul.“

—  John le Carré, buch The Mission Song

The Mission Song (2006)

„You can't make war against terror. Terror is a technique of battle. It's a tactic that has been employed since time immemorial. You can conduct clandestine action against terrorists, and that must be done.“

—  John le Carré

Radio interview (November 2008)