Len Deighton

Leonard Cyril Deighton (born 18 February 1929) is an English novelist, historian and cookery writer. He is probably best known for his spy thrillers, several of which have been filmed.

Quotes

 * The factory workers say that it’s impossible to do anything right. If you arrive five minutes early you are a saboteur; if you arrive five minutes late you are betraying socialism; if you arrive on time they say, "Where did you get the watch?"
 * Funeral in Berlin (1964; repr. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1966) pp. 144-5
 * Described there as a joke current in 1960s Czechoslovakia


 * Capitalism is the exploitation of man by man. Yes?  Well socialism is exactly the reverse.
 * Funeral in Berlin (1964; repr. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1966) p. 145
 * Another Czech joke


 * Progress is man’s indifference to the lessons of history.
 * An Expensive Place to Die, Jonathan Cape (1967) Ch. 39


 * The tragedy of marriage is that while all women marry thinking that their man will change, all men marry believing their wife will never change.
 * London Match (London: Hutchinson, 1985) p. 18

"Is there anything you can take for it?" "Only wedding vows"
 * "...But love is like the measles; the later in life it affects you, the more severe the consequences"
 * Charity (1997; Harper Paperback, p. 280)


 * "When old men decided to barter young men for pride and profit, the transaction was called war."
 * Eleven Declarations of War (London: Harcourt Brace, 1975) p. 11