The Spies of Zurich Quotes

“As the cops say in the movies, I had motive, means, and opportunity”
― Richard Wake, The Spies of Zurich

“more and more, it was dawning on me that a blank canvas was just an invitation for other people to fill it in however they wanted.”
― Richard Wake, The Spies of Zurich

“Then why are you doing this, running these risks?" "This might sound corny, but it's because I am a proud Swiss," he said. "My country is so worried about not offending anyone and staying neutral. All we seem to care about is doing what's best for business. We do that, and we convince ourselves that we're just doing it to protect our people, as a manner of self-preservation. But in doing it, in protecting ourselves, we ignore the assault on decency, and all that is evil that the Nazis represent. I just can't accept that trade-off. So this is what I can do.”
― Richard Wake, The Spies of Zurich

“How could they not see? I mean, how could they ignore it? Did they really just sit around and drink sherry and talk about Verdun all night?”
― Richard Wake, The Spies of Zurich

“Experience becomes blinding," Brodsky said. "The three most dangerous words in any language, especially for a soldier, are 'I remember when...”
― Richard Wake, The Spies of Zurich

“It's the curse of old men. They stop listening at some point. They stop learning. It's like they never opened a book after 1918. If it made sense then, it makes sense now. If it was smart then, it's still smart now.”
― Richard Wake, The Spies of Zurich

“They're not idiots," he said. "They're just so married to what they know that they can't accept that they might be wrong, that the thing they believed in for so long might not be true after all.”
― Richard Wake, The Spies of Zurich

“Just send my message. It's more important than stopping Nazi gold. It's stopping Nazi steel.”
― Richard Wake, The Spies of Zurich

“Cold, wet, snow, Zurich. Only this year seemed worse. People didn't need what I had just gone through to be depressed in Zurich in January. All they needed to do was open their front doors and begin the morning trudge to the office.”
― Richard Wake, The Spies of Zurich

“whenever he smiled, it looked like it hurt his face.”
― Richard Wake, The Spies of Zurich

“My life was about money and power but mostly money," he said. "What could I tell God when he asked for my accomplishments? That I never stole from people, even as others did? That I never had anyone beaten up just to make an example of them? Alex, there has to be more than that.”
― Richard Wake, The Spies of Zurich

“Even during a phony war, as a major in a phony army, Marc likely was dealing with a lot of last-minute re-figuring of, well, everything an army figures.”
― Richard Wake, The Spies of Zurich

“I was pretty much left with the newspapers, which speculated reasonably often about what might be next, but subtly. When it happened -- when Adolf's legions finally arrived -- it wouldn't be subtle, but for now, the talk was of unspecified "consultations in Berlin," and feature stories about the state-of-the-art technology contained within the Maginot Line, and friendly reaffirmations of Belgian neutrality, and the catch-all "awaiting events." Everybody was awaiting events.”
― Richard Wake, The Spies of Zurich

“I could argue that I was joining a shortwave radio club as a hobby.”
― Richard Wake, The Spies of Zurich

“In some cases, spying involved physical danger and derring-do. In my case, it involved drinking and observing people. So, as it turned out, I had really been a spy for my whole adult life.”
― Richard Wake, The Spies of Zurich