If you see the world as gloomily as I see it, the only thing to do is laugh or shoot yourself.

It's easy to forget what intelligence consists of: luck and speculation. Here and there a windfall, here and there a scoop.

It's the oldest question of all, George. Who can spy on the spies?

I can't think of anybody worse to live with.

Once you've lived the inside-out world of espionage, you never shed it. It's a mentality, a double standard of existence.

As our Governments spin, lie and lose their credibility, the electorate simply shrugs and looks the other way.

I have a theory which I suspect is rather immoral,' Smiley went on, more lightly. 'Each of us has only a quantum of compassion. That if we lavish our concern on every stray cat, we never get to the centre of things.