The Spy Who Came In From The Cold / Call For The Dead / A Murder Of Quality / The Looking Glass War / A Small Town In Germany Quotes

“Thus we do disagreeable things, but we are defensive. That, I think, is still fair. We do disagreeable things so that ordinary people here and elsewhere can sleep safely in their beds at night. Is that too romantic? Of course, we occasionally do very wicked things"; he grinned like a schoolboy. "And in weighing up the moralities, we rather go in for dishonest comparisons; after all, you can't compare the ideals of one side with the methods of the other, can you, now?”
― John le Carré, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold / Call For The Dead / A Murder Of Quality / The Looking Glass War / A Small Town In Germany