Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Quotes
Control: Listen Jim, we've got to have codenames for them. D'you remember the nursery rhyme Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor? Finish it.
Jim Prideaux: Richman, poorman, beggerman, thief.
Control: Percy Alleline, Director of Operations: Tinker. Tinker. Bill Haydon, Head of Personnel: Tailor. Roy Bland, Head of Iron Curtain Networks: Soldier. We leave out Sailor, too much like Tailor, could be misheard.
Jim Prideaux: Richman?
Control: Don't like it. Sounds like police work - fraud, Swiss banks stuff. Toby Esterhase, Top Lamplighter, our exquisite head sleuth: Poorman? [Control chuckles]
Control: Yes...â?Poorman. And George Smiley, my devoted deputy: Beggerman.
Jim Prideaux: Richman, poorman, beggerman, thief.
Control: Percy Alleline, Director of Operations: Tinker. Tinker. Bill Haydon, Head of Personnel: Tailor. Roy Bland, Head of Iron Curtain Networks: Soldier. We leave out Sailor, too much like Tailor, could be misheard.
Jim Prideaux: Richman?
Control: Don't like it. Sounds like police work - fraud, Swiss banks stuff. Toby Esterhase, Top Lamplighter, our exquisite head sleuth: Poorman? [Control chuckles]
Control: Yes...â?Poorman. And George Smiley, my devoted deputy: Beggerman.
Movie: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Connie Sachs: I hate the real world. I like the Circus and all my lovely boys.
Movie: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
George Smiley: I never knew Percy as a force, you see. Only as a...
Roddy Martindale: Striver? Right. With his eyes on Control's purple, day and night.
Roddy Martindale: Striver? Right. With his eyes on Control's purple, day and night.
Movie: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Oliver Lacon: I suppose your wife will have to be among them. I know you told me she and Haydon are over and done with now, as you said. There's always the unknown factor in matters of the heart. I'm thinking about the future - any possible further contact - and if Ann doesn't know - she does meet so many different sorts of people.
George Smiley: [Smiling] She gets around.
Oliver Lacon: I'm sorry, George.
George Smiley: Not at all, I quite take your point. Ann must let us know of any approach directly or indirectly made by or on behalf of...
Oliver Lacon: Exactly.
George Smiley: - or even merely concerning Bill Haydon.
Oliver Lacon: Thank you.
George Smiley: I was going to tell her anyway.
George Smiley: [Smiling] She gets around.
Oliver Lacon: I'm sorry, George.
George Smiley: Not at all, I quite take your point. Ann must let us know of any approach directly or indirectly made by or on behalf of...
Oliver Lacon: Exactly.
George Smiley: - or even merely concerning Bill Haydon.
Oliver Lacon: Thank you.
George Smiley: I was going to tell her anyway.
Movie: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Roy Bland: You're an educated sort of a swine. An artist is a bloke who can hold two fundamentally opposing views and still function. Who dreamed that one up?
George Smiley: Scott Fitzgerald.
Roy Bland: Well, Fitzgerald knew a thing or two. And I'm definitely functioning. As a good socialist, I'm going where the money is; as a good capitalist, I'm sticking with the revolution, because if you can't beat it, spy on it.
George Smiley: Scott Fitzgerald.
Roy Bland: Well, Fitzgerald knew a thing or two. And I'm definitely functioning. As a good socialist, I'm going where the money is; as a good capitalist, I'm sticking with the revolution, because if you can't beat it, spy on it.
Movie: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
[Polyakov has been caught red-handed meeting with Gerald]
Polyakov: I'm a Soviet diplomat! This behavior...
Peter Guillam: SHUT UP!
Polyakov: I'm a Soviet diplomat! This behavior...
Peter Guillam: SHUT UP!
Movie: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
George Smiley: I want to talk about loyalty, Toby. Control recruited you, didn't he? He found you starving in a museum in Vienna, a wanted man. He saved your life, I heard. And yet, when the time came... when it came to picking sides between him and Alleline, you didn't hesitate. It's understandable, perhaps, with your war experience. You survived this long, I suppose, because of your ability to change sides, to serve any master.
Easterhase: What's... what's this about, George?
George Smiley: It's about which master you've been serving, Toby.
Easterhase: What's... what's this about, George?
George Smiley: It's about which master you've been serving, Toby.
Movie: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Oliver Lacon: It's the oldest question of all, George. Who can spy on the spies?
Movie: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Peter Guillam: [on Karla]He went back to die, rather than give in.
George Smiley: And that's how I know he can be beaten. Because he's a fanatic. And the fanatic is always concealing a secret doubt.
George Smiley: And that's how I know he can be beaten. Because he's a fanatic. And the fanatic is always concealing a secret doubt.
Movie: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
[a teenage couple are making out in front of Connie and Smiley]Connie Sachs: I don't know about you George, but I'm feeling seriously under-fucked!
Movie: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Bill Haydon: [on the phone]As I said, you may fuck me but you still have to call me Sir in the morning.
Movie: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Control: I know that Moscow has planted a mole, and I know it is one of five men. [starts placing out chess pieces with photos on them]
Control: Alleline: Tinker. Haydon: Tailor. Bland: Soldier. We leave out Sailor, too much like Tailor. Esterhase: Poorman.
Jim Prideaux: And the fifth?
Control: Smiley.
Control: Alleline: Tinker. Haydon: Tailor. Bland: Soldier. We leave out Sailor, too much like Tailor. Esterhase: Poorman.
Jim Prideaux: And the fifth?
Control: Smiley.
Movie: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
George Smiley: We're not so different, you and I. We've both spent our lives looking for the weakness in one another's systems. Don't you think it's time to recognize there is as little worth on your side as there is on mine?
Movie: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
[last lines]Bill Roach: I made this for you, sir.
Jim Prideaux: I don't want you hanging around here anymore. Keep away from me from now on. Go and join the others.
Bill Roach: But...
Jim Prideaux: Just bloody join in, will you?
Jim Prideaux: Go and play! Damn you!
Jim Prideaux: I don't want you hanging around here anymore. Keep away from me from now on. Go and join the others.
Bill Roach: But...
Jim Prideaux: Just bloody join in, will you?
Jim Prideaux: Go and play! Damn you!
Movie: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
George Smiley: Is there anything you would like me to pass on to Ann?
Bill Haydon: That was nothing personal, George. You have to understand. Karla said that you were good; the one we had to worry about. If I were to known as Ann's lover, he'd figure that you wouldn't be able to see me straight. And he was right, up to a point...
George Smiley: Up to a point.
Bill Haydon: That was nothing personal, George. You have to understand. Karla said that you were good; the one we had to worry about. If I were to known as Ann's lover, he'd figure that you wouldn't be able to see me straight. And he was right, up to a point...
George Smiley: Up to a point.
Movie: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Minister: I thought Lacon had made it clear to you: keep your nose bloody well out of Witchcraft's business!
George Smiley: It's Lacon's advice I'm following. [to Lacon]
George Smiley: You told me to follow in Control's footsteps.
Minister: I wouldn't consider that sound advice, given the mess Control left us with. It has taken Alleline - and if I may say so, myself - this long to get us back in the game.
George Smiley: The man Alleline and the others meet is called Polyakov. You believe his role is to bring information from Witchcraft to you. His real role is to receive information from the mole, to take back to Karla.
Minister: [laughing incredulously]That... that's not possible.
George Smiley: Made possible, by you, in the house which you persuaded the Treasury to pay for.
Minister: Witchcraft's intelligence is genuine! It's been gold!
George Smiley: It's just enough glitter amongst the chickenfeed. Control didn't believe in miracles, and he didn't believe in Witchcraft. But you were lazy, and you were greedy, and so you hounded him out of the Circus and you let Karla in. You've opened negotiations to exchange intelligence with the Americans... [Realizing the implications of what Smiley is saying, the Minister starts to tremble]
George Smiley: What they tell the Circus, they'll be telling the Kremlin. Witchcraft's information, the gold Karla let you have, it wasn't to lure you. It was to lure the Americans. Now... do you want to take credit for that?
George Smiley: It's Lacon's advice I'm following. [to Lacon]
George Smiley: You told me to follow in Control's footsteps.
Minister: I wouldn't consider that sound advice, given the mess Control left us with. It has taken Alleline - and if I may say so, myself - this long to get us back in the game.
George Smiley: The man Alleline and the others meet is called Polyakov. You believe his role is to bring information from Witchcraft to you. His real role is to receive information from the mole, to take back to Karla.
Minister: [laughing incredulously]That... that's not possible.
George Smiley: Made possible, by you, in the house which you persuaded the Treasury to pay for.
Minister: Witchcraft's intelligence is genuine! It's been gold!
George Smiley: It's just enough glitter amongst the chickenfeed. Control didn't believe in miracles, and he didn't believe in Witchcraft. But you were lazy, and you were greedy, and so you hounded him out of the Circus and you let Karla in. You've opened negotiations to exchange intelligence with the Americans... [Realizing the implications of what Smiley is saying, the Minister starts to tremble]
George Smiley: What they tell the Circus, they'll be telling the Kremlin. Witchcraft's information, the gold Karla let you have, it wasn't to lure you. It was to lure the Americans. Now... do you want to take credit for that?
Movie: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Ricki Tarr: They're going to kill me.
George Smiley: Who is?
Ricki Tarr: Your lot. Or their lot, whoever gets me first. I'm innocent. Within reason.
George Smiley: Who is?
Ricki Tarr: Your lot. Or their lot, whoever gets me first. I'm innocent. Within reason.
Movie: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
George Smiley: Did Karla want you take over the Circus?
Bill Haydon: I'm not his bloody office boy!
George Smiley: [angry]What are you then, Bill?
Bill Haydon: I'm someone who's made his mark.
Bill Haydon: I'm not his bloody office boy!
George Smiley: [angry]What are you then, Bill?
Bill Haydon: I'm someone who's made his mark.
Movie: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
[from trailer]Oliver Lacon: [to Smiley]There's a mole, right at the top of the Circus. And he's been there for years.
Movie: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
[from trailer]Control: All I want from you is one codename: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier...
George Smiley: ...Spy.
George Smiley: ...Spy.
Movie: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Ricki Tarr: Mr Guillam, I'm sorry I was out for so long. [Guillam attacks Tarr]
George Smiley: Ricki's been helping us, Peter! He's been telling us all about his adventures.
Peter Guillam: He's a double, George! There is no mole! Irina's been locked up by Moscow! [turns on Tarr]
Peter Guillam: I stole that, because of you! I spied on my own, because of him! Do you know how that makes me feel?
George Smiley: Ricki's been helping us, Peter! He's been telling us all about his adventures.
Peter Guillam: He's a double, George! There is no mole! Irina's been locked up by Moscow! [turns on Tarr]
Peter Guillam: I stole that, because of you! I spied on my own, because of him! Do you know how that makes me feel?
Movie: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Connie Sachs: It was a good time back then.
George Smiley: It was a war, Connie.
Connie Sachs: A war we could be proud of.
George Smiley: It was a war, Connie.
Connie Sachs: A war we could be proud of.
Movie: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Jim Prideaux: [on Roach]I've known a lot of Bills in my time. They've all been good ones. Whatcha good at?
Movie: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
George Smiley: [discussing the veracity of a new report]Where did you get this?
Control: I didn't. Percy and his little cabal walked in with it.
Easterhase: Look, Control...
Control: Shut up!
Bill Haydon: Style, appalling. Blatantly a fabrication from beginning to end. Just could be the real thing.
Control: Smiley is suspicious, Percy.
George Smiley: Where did it come from? What's the access?
Percy Alleline: A new secret source of mine.
George Smiley: But how could he possibly have access?
Percy Alleline: He has access to the most sensitive levels of policy making. We named the Operation Witchcraft.
Control: Well, Percy and his pals bypassed us Smiley. Gone straight to the minister. Percy has been allowed to keep the identity of his new friend top secret.
Control: I didn't. Percy and his little cabal walked in with it.
Easterhase: Look, Control...
Control: Shut up!
Bill Haydon: Style, appalling. Blatantly a fabrication from beginning to end. Just could be the real thing.
Control: Smiley is suspicious, Percy.
George Smiley: Where did it come from? What's the access?
Percy Alleline: A new secret source of mine.
George Smiley: But how could he possibly have access?
Percy Alleline: He has access to the most sensitive levels of policy making. We named the Operation Witchcraft.
Control: Well, Percy and his pals bypassed us Smiley. Gone straight to the minister. Percy has been allowed to keep the identity of his new friend top secret.
Movie: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
[from trailer]Ricki Tarr: [about Irina]She had information concerning a double agent. What she told me was sensational...
Movie: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Ricki Tarr: She told me she had a secret, the mother of all secrets...
Movie: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy