Aphorisms of Espionage by John LeCarré

Aphorism 121: “It is such a mistake to put one’s trust in technique!” The Looking Glass War, Chapter 5

Full Quote: “It’s such a mistake, I always feel, to put one’s trust in technique.”

Aphorism 120: “Dependence should not become an attitude!” chapter 2

Full Quote: “But somehow marriage had made her childish; dependence had become an attitude.”

Aphorism 119: “Find comfort in shared pain!” Chapter 7

Full Quote: “..it is the place where the searchers meet, finding no one but each other and the comfort of a shared pain..”

Aphorism 118: “Anticipate having to endure leisure!” Chapter 8
Full Quote: “He had not anticipated having to endure leisure”

LeCarre, Tyler, Donne

Aphorism 58: “Choose what to lose!”

Full Quote: “’After a certain age’ he told Sarah, ‘it seems to me you can only chose what to lose.” Anne Tyler, The Accidental Tourist, Alfred A. Knopt, NY, 1985, p. 310

Aphorism 57: “Deal in the art of the legitimate!”

Full Quote: “He dealt in the art of the legitimate, in transferring informal assets to firmer grounds.” John Le Carre from Single and Single, Scribner, 1999. P.21.

Aphorism 56: “Any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee!” John Donne

Aphorism 55: “If you are an alien, at least try to act normal!”

Full Quote: To live on Earth, aliens have to blend in.” Inspired by Men in Black II, quote appeared on a Burger King food sack.