Spycraft Quotes

I'm clearly not an international man of mystery.

I've always wanted to be a spy, and frankly I'm a little surprised that British intelligence has never approached me.

The creation of George Smiley, the retired spy recalled to hunt for just such a high-ranking mole in 'Tinker, Tailor,' was extremely personal. I borrowed elements of people I admired and invested them in this mythical character. I'm such a fluent, specious person now, but I was an extremely awkward fellow in those days.

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

The human spy, in terms of the American espionage effort, had never been terribly pertinent.

Contessa, a.k.a. Baboushka, was a leader in the Russian mafia. Hardnosed, ruthless... very much her own woman. She's a martial artist, marksman, and good with guns and gadgets as any good pulp spy should be. She's supported by her constant companion Gyorgy Gyorgyov, an old friend of her family who was, in fact, her KGB handler and inventor.

Since real spies are so good, you never really know what actual spying is. But I do think spying is a lot more dangerous than we are led to believe.

My name is E. Howard Hunt. I'm currently retired from more than 22 years in the profession of espionage.

The Secret Intelligence Service I knew occupied dusky suites of little rooms opposite St James's Park Tube station in London.

For something that's supposed to be secret, there is a lot of intelligence history. Every time I read one book, two more are published.

During the Cold War, we gathered information by listening to the Soviets, taking pictures of the Soviets, and we allowed our human intelligence to decline.

Slightly embarrassing admission: Even when I was a kid, I used to have these little spy books, and I would, like, see what everybody was doing in my neighborhood and log it down.

I wanted to be a journalist. The other thing I wanted to be was a spy.

I worked for a private investigative agency briefly. I rarely had the opportunity to snoop.

The world of spying is my genre. My struggle is to demystify, to de-romanticise the spook world, but at the same time harness it as a good story.

When I first deployed as a military intelligence officer my resources were a map, a grease pencil and two corporals.

I love the combination of the words 'spies' and 'Balkans.' It's like meat and potatoes.

Espionage takes place in the world. Even we commit espionage.

I saw a limit to what I was giving as kind of a scam I was running on the KGB, by giving them people that I knew were their double agents fed to us.

With stealth technology, the U.S. could spy on its Cold War adversaries without running the risk of getting caught.

I've always had a great affection for espionage stories. I like weaving them, and I like thrillers.

I never met a North Korean who didn’t like pornography. Supplying porn to North Korean officials to entice them to spy for America, along with money or whatever else it might take—yes I was willing to do that.

I feel like the American years were my apprenticeship for doing a Bond movie.

Espionage and counterespionage go together like horse and carriage.

When I was a kid, I wanted to be a spy detective or a rock star.