A Delicate Truth Quotes

“And from there, he wandered off into an argument with Friedrich Schiller's grandiose statement that human stupidity was what the gods fought in vain. Not so, in Toby's opinion, and no excuse for anybody, whether god or man. What the gods and all reasonable humans fought in vain wasn't stupidity at all. It was sheer, wanton, bloody indifference to anybody's interests but their own.”
― John le Carré, A Delicate Truth

“Hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue, dear man. In an imperfect world, I fear it’s the best we can manage.”
― John le Carré, A Delicate Truth

“who’s an ex-diplomat of all people to complain if the wrapping is prettier than what’s inside?”
― John le Carré, A Delicate Truth

“If a decade of diplomatic life had taught Toby one thing, it was to treat every crisis as normal and soluble.”
― John le Carré, A Delicate Truth

“And all right, it’s Merrie bloody England, it’s Laura bloody Ashley, it’s ale and pasties and yo-ho for Cornwall, and tomorrow morning all these nice, sweet people will be back at each other’s throats, screwing each other’s wives and doing all the stuff the rest of the world does. But right now it’s their National Day, and who’s an ex-diplomat of all people to complain if the wrapping is prettier than what’s inside?”
― John le Carré, A Delicate Truth

“the striver in him knew that his first aim must be to rise in the system he dreamed of liberating.”
― John le Carré, A Delicate Truth

“Think I’ll just buff up the silver,’ he announced, loud enough for her to hear and do something about him if she wanted.”
― John le Carré, A Delicate Truth

“Cyril, church warden and lead tenor in the choir, lives with mother, banned from unsupervised contact with schoolchildren; Harold, drunk dentist, early retirement, pretty thatched cottage off the Bodmin road, one son in rehab, wife in the bin.”
― John le Carré, A Delicate Truth

“When the Foreign Office Accounts Department demurs, Quinn replies that he will pay his own way, which surprises Toby since, like many affluent people, Quinn is notoriously tight.”
― John le Carré, A Delicate Truth

“En vandaar dwaalde hij af naar een meningsverschil met Friedrich Schillers hoogdravende theorie dat wat de goden tevergeefs bestreden menselijke domheid was. Daar was Toby het niet mee eens. Dat was voor niemand een excuus, of hij nu een god of een mens was. Waar de goden en alle redelijke mensen zich tevergeefs tegen verzetten was helemaal geen domheid. Dat was pure, moedwillige, kloterige onverschilligheid voor ieders belangen behalve die van henzelf.”
― John le Carré, A Delicate Truth

“Por fuerza tiene que haber argumentos en contra. Siempre los hay. No hay nada grabado en piedra. No en el mundo real.”
― John le Carré, A Delicate Truth

“If one tells the truth, one is sure, sooner or later, to be found out. Oscar Wilde”
― John le Carré, A Delicate Truth

“breath and caught the”
― John le Carré, A Delicate Truth