Paen to A PERFECT SPY

A Perfect Spy contains wonderfully memorable descriptions and lines. I have read it at least it a dozen times, and each time I find another gem of a phrase. My old hardback became so underlined and highlighted I had to get another one! I also have the BBC Video, which is a masterpiece and, I believe, contains much greater performances than Alex Guinness in Smiley's People. Some of my favourite lines from A Perfect Spy:

"The burgeoning spy had acquired an early lesson in the dangerous business of intelligence: everybody talks."
"If you're going to learn to shave people, Magnus, ... you've got to learn to rub the soap in first."
"Justice is only as good as its servants."
"For Sir Magnus who will never be my enemy."
"He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much. He who is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much."
"You gave my lies a reason."
"Never mind. E. Weber love you always."
"... looking for a way of stealing back the love he had given to a wrong cause."
"There is one of me and one of you, Sir Magnus. There will never be another of either of us. You are the keeper of our friendship."

-- Ian

Return to my John LeCarré site, A Desk is a Dangerous Place.