Lisa McMann Quotes

I'm not a spy, which is the real question

Of all those in the army close to the commander, none is more intimate than the secret agent.

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.

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

If you’re going to be involved with espionage, you’ve got to be motivated. It’s not fun and games. It’s dirty and dangerous. There’s always the chance that you’re going to get burned.

Oh, I can keep many secrets, so I would be a phenomenal secret agent. I love secrets.

I spent a whole career infiltrating places.

I really wanted to be a spy. I guess it's a bit like acting, where you play a role.

That’s the thing about spies. Most of the secrets we keep are from each other.

"We're going to be okay." Here's the thing about being a spy: sometimes all you have are your lies. They protect your cover and keep your secrets, and right then I needed to believe that it was true even when all the facts said otherwise.

We knew we were talking about spies. I knew he knew I knew. I was digging my own grave.

I am always up to steal secrets from smart people.

I handed over names and compromised so many CIA agents in the Soviet Union.

Ask yourself: if I were a Chinese spy, why wouldn't I have flown directly into Beijing? I could be living in a palace petting a phoenix by now.

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.

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.

I always liked spy stories.

It was awesome and liberating to play a Russian spy.

The only thing I ever withheld from the KGB were the names of two agents whom I personally had known and handled and had a particular feeling for.

I've always wanted to play a spy, because it is the ultimate acting exercise. You are never what you seem.

If I wasn't an actor, I'd be a secret agent.

Anyone who tells you he deals with the CIA is either a fool (for admitting it) or a braggart.

There are few archbishops in espionage. He's on our side and that's all that matters. Besides, one needn't ask him to one's club.

There is only one law of espionage—there are always going to be spies.

It is important to seek out the spies that the enemy has sent to spy on you so you can bribe them to really spy for you.