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Spy Quotes

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Spy Quotes

“Spies cannot be usefully employed without a certain intuitive sagacity; They cannot be properly managed without benevolence and straightforwardness; Without subtle ingenuity of mind, one cannot make certain of the truth of their reports; Be subtle! be subtle! and use your spies for every kind of warfare; If a secret piece of news is divulged by a spy before the time is ripe, he must be put to death together with the man to whom the secret was told.”

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Author:Sun Tzu
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“The enemy's spies who have come to spy on us must be sought out, tempted with bribes, led away and comfortably housed. Thus they will become double agents and available for our service. It is through the information brought by the double agent that we are able to acquire and employ local and inward spies. It is owing to his information, again, that we can cause the doomed spy to carry false tidings to the enemy.”

ArtWarAbleCausesEnemyMilitaryInformationAvailableLocalsAgentsAcquireInwardDoomedTemptedSpyArt Of WarBribeOwingStrategistTidings
Book:The Complete Art of War
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“Most of us live in a condition of secrecy: secret desires, secret appetites, secret hatreds and relationship with the institutions which is extremely intense and uncomfortable. These are, to me, a part of the ordinary human condition. So I don't think I'm writing about abnormal things. ... Artists, in my experience, have very little center. They fake. They are not the real thing. They are spies. I am no exception.”

ThinkingWritingHumansLittlesRealDesireArtistSecretConditionsOrdinaryHatredInstitutionsIntenseUncomfortableFakeExceptionAppetiteHuman ConditionSpySecrecyReal ThingsAbnormalSecret Desire
Author:John le Carre
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“To a Mistress Dying Lover. YOUR beauty, ripe and calm and fresh As eastern summers are, Must now, forsaking time and flesh, Add light to some small star. Philosopher. Whilst she yet lives, were stars decay'd, Their light by hers relief might find; But Death will lead her to a shade Where Love is cold and Beauty blind. Lover. Lovers, whose priests all poets are, Think every mistress, when she dies, Is changed at least into a star: And who dares doubt the poet wise? Philosopher. But ask not bodies doom'd to die To what abode they go; Since Knowledge is but Sorrow's spy, It is not safe to know.”

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Author:William Davenant
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“This false distance is present everywhere: in spy films, in Godard, in modern advertising, which uses it continually as a cultural allusion. It is not really clear in the end whether this 'cool' smile is the smile of humour or that of commercial complicity. This is also the case with pop, and its smile ultimately encapsulates all its ambiguity: it is not the smile of critical distance, but the smile of collusion”

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Book:The Consumer Society: Myths and Structures
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“Thrilling, illuminating, heart-pounding. Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy reads like a crackling espionage novel and resonates as only the most compelling history can. Abbott brings to vivid life four extraordinary and audacious women, and runs glorious roughshod over all our traditional notions of the role of women in the Civil War.”

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Author:Megan Abbott
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“I had a right to my own political opinions. I am a Southern woman, born with Revolutionary blood in my veins. Freedom of speech and of thought were my birthright, guaranteed, signed and sealed by the blood of our fathers.”

WarPoliticalFatherBornFreedomMy OwnOpinionRightsBloodRevolutionSpeechHuman RightsRevolutionaryCivil WarSouthernFreedom Of SpeechVeinsSpyOur FatherFreedom Of ThoughtBirthrightFamous WomenPolitical OpinionsSouthern Women
Author:Rose O'Neal Greenhow
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“The man who is an initiate of one of the great Mystery Schools never fears to let his pupils outdistance him, because he knows that it stands him in good stead with his superiors if he is constantly sending up to them aspirants who 'make good.' He therefore never tries to hold back a promising pupil, because he has no need to fear that pupil, if allowed to penetrate into the Mysteries, would spy out the nakedness of the land; he will rather bring back a report of its exceeding richness, and thereby confirm the statements of his teacher and spur his fellow pupils to yet greater eagerness.”

IfsKnowsMenNeedsTryingSchoolGreaterTeacherMysteryLandHe ManFellowsStatementsSuperiorsReportsSpyPenetrateRichnessPupilsSpursInitiateEagernessNever Fear
Book:Esoteric Orders And Their Work
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“A hand from Washington will be stretched out and placed upon every man’s business; the eye of the federal inspector will be in every man’s counting house… The law will of necessity have Indus[tr]ial features, it will provide penalties, it will create complicated machinery. Under it, men will be hauled into courts distant from their homes. Heavy fines imposed by distant and unfamiliar tribunals will constantly menace the taxpayer. An army of federal inspectors, spies, and detectives will descend upon the state.”

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Author:Richard E. Byrd
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“The general's staff is a handpicked collection of killers, spies, geniuses, patriots, political operators and outright maniacs. There's a former head of British Special Forces, two Navy Seals, an Afghan Special Forces commando, a lawyer, two fighter pilots and at least two dozen combat veterans and counterinsurgency experts. They jokingly refer to themselves as Team America, taking the name from the South Park-esque sendup of military cluelessness, and they pride themselves on their can-do attitude and their disdain for authority.”

TwoAmericaPoliticalNamesForceCan DoAttitudeTeamSpecialMilitaryPrideGeniusAuthoritySouthBritishLawyerFighterFormerExpertsParksCollectionsCombatDozenPilotsKillersStaffPatriotVeteranSpyNavySealsDisdainManiacsOperatorsAfghanSpecial ForcesFighter PilotCan Do AttitudeNavy SealCommandosCombat VeteransCounterinsurgencyTeam America
Author:Michael Hastings
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“My understanding is that espionage means giving secret or classified information to the enemy. Since Snowden shared information with the American people, his indictment for espionage could reveal (or confirm) that the US Government views you and me as the enemy.”

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Author:Ron Paul
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“To say "I accept" in an age like our own is to say that you accept concentration-camps, rubber truncheons, Hitler, Stalin, bombs, aeroplanes, tinned food, machine guns, putsches, purges, slogans, Bedaux belts, gas-masks, submarines, spies, provocateurs, press-censorship, secret prisons, aspirins, Hollywood films and political murder.”

AgeFilmPoliticalFreedomSecretAcceptingGunHollywoodMachinesMurderPressesPrisonBombsGasMaskConcentrationCampsCensorshipSpyBeltsSlogansAeroplanesRubberConcentration CampSubmarinesAspirinMachine GunsHollywood FilmsGas Masks
Book:A Collection of Essays
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