Coming home from very lonely places, all of us go a little mad: whether from great personal success, or just an all-night drive, we are the sole survivors of a world no one else has ever seen.

Smiley was soaked to the skin and God as a punishment had removed all taxis from the face of London.

Having your book turned into a movie is like seeing your oxen turned into bouillon cubes.

I worked for MI6 in the Sixties, during the great witch-hunts, when the shared paranoia of the Cold War gripped the services.

When the world is destroyed, it will be destroyed not by its madmen but by the sanity of its experts and the superior ignorance of its bureaucrats.

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

In every operation there is an above the line and a below the line. Above the line is what you do by the book. Below the line is how you do the job.