The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

by John Le Carré

“We have to live without sympathy, don’t we? That’s impossible of course. We act it to one another, all this hardness; but we aren’t like that really, I mean . . . one can’t be out in the cold all the time; one has to come in from the cold . . . d’you see what I mean?”

So close but was never in reach.

you can’t be less ruthless than the opposition simply because your government’s policy is benevolent,

… as the Russians will find true of the Ukrainians over the next two centuries.

The steep wooded hills on either side gradually yielded their colours to the gathering dusk until they stood grey and lifeless in the twilight.

Spies are as observant as artist would see the pallet construct of a landscape.