The Secret Pilgrim (George Smiley, #8)

by John Le Carré

Smiley cut me short. “Now, Ned, I think you’re being a little bit prissy. Every church needs its saints. The anti-Communist church is no exception. And saints as a bunch are a pretty bogus lot, when you come down to it. But no one would pretend they don’t have their uses, once they get the job.