The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

by John Le Carré

Everywhere that air of conspiracy which generates among people who have been up since dawn – of superiority almost, derived from the common experience of having seen the night disappear and the morning come.

He knew then what it was that Liz had given him; the thing that he would have to go back and find if ever he got home to England: it was the caring about little things – the faith in ordinary life; the simplicity that made you break up a bit of bread into a paper bag, walk down to the beach and throw it to the gulls.

‘The English! The rich have eaten your future and your poor have given them the food – that’s what’s happened to the English.’