The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

by John Le Carré

This is not the first time that a revanchist plot has been uncovered through the decadence of its architects.’

What 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.