Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by John le Carré

Quote by John le Carré

“Sometimes you do it to save face, thought Jerry, other times you just do it because you haven't done your job unless you've scared yourself to death. Other times again, you go in order to remind yourself that survival is a fluke. But mostly you go because the others go; for machismo; and because in order to belong you must share.”

Quote by John le Carré

Book:The Honourable Schoolboy
Create image

Work

The Honourable Schoolboy

This book is part of a series and delves into the complex world of espionage, featuring a protagonist who navigates the intricacies of international diplomacy and covert operations. more

Author

John le Carré

Browse famous quotes and profile details for John le Carré. more

You May Also Like

“Delacorte Review Stories do not write themselves, much as writers may modestly insist they do. Stories exist because writers need to tell them—a need so deep that they will endure false starts, woeful sentences, dead-end paragraphs, two-dimensional characters, flabby prose, wrong turns, and shaky narratives. In short, they will risk all the things that, taken together, comprise the writer’s greatest fear: failure. Specifically, failing to tell the story they need to tell. Still, they persist. If the best fiction is propelled by imagination, we believe that the best narrative nonfiction is propelled by the relentless and often-lonely business of finding out things that are often maddeningly difficult to find. In a word: reporting. Nonfiction storytelling can be as compelling, riveting, and transporting as fiction—so long as you come back, as they say, with the goods. The Delacorte Review’s mission is discovery -- for readers to discover new, original works of ambitious narrative nonfiction. For writers to discover the stories they need to tell.”

StoriesNonfictionMissionReporting
Author:The Delacorte Review
Create image

“If for instance the sentiment possessing for the moment the empire of our mind is sorrow, will not the genius sharpen the sorrow and the sorrow purify the genius? Together, will they not be like a cut diamond for which language is only the wax on which they stamp their imprint? I believe that genius, thus awakened, has no need to seek out details, that it scarcely pauses to reflect, that it never thinks of unity: I believe that the details come naturally without search by the poet, that inspiration takes the place of reflection and as for unity, I think there is no unity so perfect as that which results from a heart filled with a single idea...The nature of genius is related to that of instinct; it's operation is both simple and marvelous.”

WritingGeniusSorrow
Author:Charlotte Brontë
Create image

“For years, I assumed that educating people who are already interested in climate change would just be preaching to the choir. But my reporting career has taught me that's note true. Most people who are interested in climate change just don't yet have the tools to talk about it confidently. The choir is there. They want to sing. But they don't know the words. (Emily Atkin, Truth Be Told)”

TruthMediaNewsClimate ChangeJournalismReporting
Author:Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
Create image