89 Espionage Quotes
Following is our list of espionage quotations and slogans full of insightful wisdom and perspective about secret intelligence.
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Famous Espionage Quotes
Espionage, for the most part, involves finding a person who knows something or has something that you can induce them secretly to give to you. That almost always involves a betrayal of trust. — Aldrich Ames
There is no place where espionage is not possible. — Sun Tzu
An espionage organization is a collector: it collects raw information. That gets processed by a machinery that is supposed to resolve its reliability, and to present a finished product. — Aldrich Ames
I'm sort of fascinated by the whole espionage crime thing. — Aaron Eckhart
We have some material on spying by a major government on the tech industry. Industrial espionage. — Julian Assange
Be subtle! be subtle! and use your spies for every kind of business. — Sun Tzu
Spies cannot be usefully employed without a certain intuitive sagacity. — Sun Tzu
When you grow suspicious of a person and begin a system of espionage upon him, your punishment will be that you will find your suspicions true. — Elbert Hubbard
A spy, like a writer, lives outside the mainstream population. He steals his experience through bribes and reconstructs it. — John Le Carre
With stealth technology, the U.S. could spy on its Cold War adversaries without running the risk of getting caught. — Annie Jacobsen
The human spy, in terms of the American espionage effort, had never been terribly pertinent. — Aldrich Ames
Secret operations are essential in war; upon them the army relies to make its every move. — Sun Tzu
All warfare is based on deception. There is no place where espionage is not used. Offer the enemy bait to lure him. — Sun Tzu
In intelligence work, there are limits to the amount of information one can share. Confidentiality is essential. — Gijs de Vries
A reporter's ability to keep the bond of confidentiality often enables him to learn the hidden or secret aspects of government. — Bob Woodward
Short Espionage Quotes
- Who would have thought that in the 1950s, Burbank was a hotbed of international espionage? — Annie Jacobsen
- All women are natural born espionage agents. — Sayings
- You get so used to lying that after a while it's hard to remember what the truth is. — Philip Agee
- The habits and language of clandestinity can intoxicate even its own practitioners. — William Colby
- You couldn't trust anyone or anything that belonged to the world of espionage. — Anthony Horowitz
- To charge Snowden with espionage is a severe form of political persecution. — Mark Weisbrot
- Indeed, the U.N. is the main Soviet espionage center in this country. — Jack Anderson
- This is the wonderful thing about espionage, nothing exists any more. — William Stephenson
- The best leaks always take place in the urinal. — John Cole
Spies Quotes
While I cannot take the time to name all the men in the State Department who have been named as members of the Communist Party and members of a spy ring, I have here in my hand a list of 205. — Joseph McCarthy
No one should ever be locked away simply because they share the same race, ethnicity, or religion as a spy or terrorist. If that principle was not learned from the internment of Japanese Americans, then these are very dangerous times for our democracy. — Fred Korematsu
Instead of friends, I see in Washington only mortal enemies. Instead of loving the old flag of the stars and stripes, I see in it only the symbol of murder, plunder, oppression, and shame. — Rose O'Neal Greenhow
Communism is as Jewish as the Mafia is Italian. It's a fact that almost all of the convicted spies for communism have been atheist Jews like the Rosenbergs. And international communism was invented by the Jew Karl Marx and has since been led mostly by Jews - like Trotsky. — George Lincoln Rockwell
The chief internal enemies of any state are not spies nor saboteurs nor the paid agents of foreign governments. They are, on the contrary, those myriads of public officials who betray the trust imposed upon them by the people. — Dalton Trumbo
I would have loved to have met some former spies, but they don't readily advertise themselves unless they're not living in Moscow, and even then. I'm sure I've met some without realizing it. — Jeremy Northam
Its objective? To develop a liquid-hydrogen-powered spy plane. — Annie Jacobsen
It's the oldest question of all, George. Who can spy on the spies? — John Le Carre
The U.S. obviously has all the evidence they need to prosecute bankers. They just need to search their own spy database and then there you go - 1,000 bankers in jail, a trillion dollars in fines. — Kim Dotcom
My understanding is that espionage means giving secret or classified information to the enemy. Since Snowden shared information with the American people, his indictment for espionage could reveal (or confirm) that the US Government views you and me as the enemy. — Ron Paul
Secret Intelligence Quotes
The secret of good teaching is to regard the child's intelligence as a fertile field in which seeds may be sown, to grow under the heat of flaming imagination. — Maria Montessori
Death is not necessarily what gives meaning to life LIFE gives meaning to life, and what we do with life, which is to create knowledge like music, art, science To this end, I believe intelligent life might be evolution's secret weapon: the ultimate hack that might help us transcend entropy. — Jason Silva
Reprove your friend in secret and praise him openly. — Leonardo da Vinci
When the eyes of a woman that a man finds attractive look directly at him, his brain secretes the pleasure-inducing chemical dopamine - but not when she looks elsewhere. — Daniel Goleman
I love sexy, intelligent women. Sexiness is hard to define. Of course a woman can be beautiful, but I think it's something in the eyes. It's a woman saying something secretive, something in her eyes that's almost animalistic. — Ellen von Unwerth
We did not lack for religious leaders to urge us into "godly" war [...]. All of this was part of a well-financed propaganda campaign on the part of British agents. As usual, the government of the United States was being "run" by the British Secret Intelligence Service. — Eustace Mullins
Confronted with a challenge to distill the secret of sound investment into three words, we venture the motto, Margin of Safety. — Benjamin Graham
Intelligence agencies keep things secret because they often violate the rule of law or of good behavior. — Julian Assange
Young men often laugh at the sensible girls whom they secretly respect, and affect to admire the silly ones whom they secretly despise, because earnestness, intelligence, and womanly dignity are not the fashion. — Louisa May Alcott
On Foreign Secretary Robin Cook: If a man cannot keep a measly affair secret, what is he doing in charge of the Intelligence Service? — Frederick Forsyth
People Writing About Espionage
| Name | Quotes | Likes |
|---|---|---|
 Sun Tzu |
454 | 6304 |
 Aldrich Ames |
38 | 994 |
 Annie Jacobsen |
73 | 1 |
 Aaron Eckhart |
59 | 215 |
 Julian Assange |
204 | 1279 |
 Elbert Hubbard |
460 | 4958 |
More Espionage Quotes
The Communist threat from without must not blind us to the Communist threat from within. The latter is reaching into the very heart of America through its espionage agents and a cunning, defiant, and lawless communist party, which is fanatically dedicated to the Marxist cause of world enslavement and destruction of the foundations of our republic. — J. Edgar Hoover
Rockefeller and his associates did not build the Standard Oil Co. in the board rooms of Wall Street banks. They fought their way to control by rebate and drawback, bribe and blackmail, espionage and price cutting, by ruthless efficiency of organization. — Ida Tarbell
Let's say a Soviet exchange student back in the '70s would go back and tell the KGB about people and places and things that he'd seen and done and been involved with. This is not really espionage; there's no betrayal of trust. — Aldrich Ames
I have encountered in this world riff-raff and good people. I lose. I win. I defend myself when I am attacked. I take when someone has taken from me. But I beg you to believe me; I have never done an act of espionage against France. Never. Never. — Mata Hari
I want people to see the truth... regardless of who they are... because without information, you cannot make informed decisions as a public. — Chelsea Manning
The executions of agents, partisans, saboteurs, suspicious people, indulging in espionage and sabotage, and those who were of a detrimental effect to the German Army, were, in my opinion, completely in accordance with the Hague Convention. — Paul Blobel
If I could rub a genie and anything could happen? Truthfully, my other love, and this is a complete 180, but I'd love to do a spy or an espionage pic, like a James Bond movie. — Chris Diamantopoulos
It is essential to seek out enemy agents who have come to conduct espionage against you and to bribe them to serve you. Give them instructions and care for them. Thus doubled agents are recruited and used. — Sun Tzu
My name is E. Howard Hunt. I'm currently retired from more than 22 years in the profession of espionage. — E. Howard Hunt
The difficulties of conducting espionage against the Soviet Union in the Soviet Union were such that historically the Agency had backed away from the task. — Aldrich Ames
I found that our Soviet espionage efforts had virtually never, or had very seldom, produced any worthwhile political or economic intelligence on the Soviet Union. — Aldrich Ames
The Obama administration has attempted to prosecute more journalists and journalistic sources under the same Espionage Act she was being investigated under in all previous presidencies combined. — Julian Assange
There are some who become spies for money, or out of vanity and megalomania, or out of ambition, or out of a desire for thrills. But the malady of our time is of those who become spies out of idealism. — Max Lerner
We know that the wages of secrecy are corruption. We know that in secrecy error, undetected, will flourish and subvert. — J. Robert Oppenheimer
Truth is suppressed, not to protect the country from enemy agents but to protect the Government of the day against the people. — Roy Hattersley
In civilizations without boats, dreams dry up, espionage takes the place of adventure and the police take the place of pirates. — Michel Foucault
Secrecy is as essential to intelligence as vestments and incense to a Mass or darkness to a spiritualist séance and must at all times be maintained, quite irrespective of whether or not it serves any purpose. — Malcolm Muggeridge
Once a secret society establishes itself within an open society, there is no end to the hideous mistrust it must cause. — Rebecca West
The way the United States intelligence community operates is it doesn't limit itself to the protection of the homeland. It doesn't limit itself to countering terrorist threats, countering nuclear proliferation. It's also used for economic espionage, for political spying to gain some knowledge of what other countries are doing. — Edward Snowden
It takes a very strong head to keep secrets for years and not go slightly mad. It isn't wise to be advised by anyone slightly mad. — C.P. Snow
Generally speaking, espionage offers each spy an opportunity to go crazy in a way he finds irresistible. — Kurt Vonnegut
What do you think spies are: priests, saints and martyrs? They're a squalid procession of vain fools, traitors too, yes; pansies, sadists and drunkards, people who play cowboys and Indians to brighten their rotten lives. — John Le Carre
The only reason that there has been no sabotage or espionage on the part of Japanese-Americans is that they are waiting for the right moment to strike. — Earl Warren
Deception is a sort of seduction. In love and war, adultery and espionage, deceit can only succeed if the deceived party is willing, in some way, to be deceived. — Ben Macintyre
All the governments just want to have more power when it comes to economic espionage, diplomatic manipulation and political influence. — Edward Snowden
Asking journalists to denounce leaks because of their deleterious effects on the functioning of government is as hopeless as asking an airline to denounce jet fuel because of its impact on the environment. — Benjamin Wittes
I am a huge fan of Alan Furst. Furst is the best in the business--the most talented espionage novelist of our generation. — Vince Flynn
Overwatch doesn't just bring together the legal and espionage genres. It merges family problems with professional ones, swirls in a major helping of murder and mayhem, and with a deft touch, reminds us why politics is-always-perso nal. — Brad Meltzer
Thrilling, illuminating, heart-pounding. Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy reads like a crackling espionage novel and resonates as only the most compelling history can. Abbott brings to vivid life four extraordinary and audacious women, and runs glorious roughshod over all our traditional notions of the role of women in the Civil War. — Megan Abbott
It will be the CIA's mission and my own if confirmed to ensure that the agency remains the best in the world at its core mission - collecting what our enemies do not want us to know. In short, the CIA must be the world's premier espionage organization. — Mike Pompeo
In Conclusion
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