Cyril Cusack: Control
Quotes
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Control : Our work, as I understand it, is based on a single assumption that the West is never going to be the aggressor. Thus, we do disagreeable things, but we're defensive. Our policies are peaceful, but our methods can't afford to be less ruthless than those of the opposition, can they? You know, I'd say, uh... since the war, our methods - our techniques, that is - and those of the Communists, have become very much the same. Yes. I mean, occasionally... we have to do wicked things. Very wicked things, indeed. But, uh, you can't be less wicked than your enemies simply because your government's policy is benevolent, can you?
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Control : We have to live without sympathy, don't we? We can't do that forever. One can't stay out of doors all the time. One needs to come in from the cold.
Alec Leamas : I'm an operator, Control, just an operator.
Control : There's a vacancy in Banking Section which might suit you.
Alec Leamas : Sorry, I'm an operational man. I'll take my pension. I don't want a desk job.
Control : You don't know what's on the desk.
Alec Leamas : Paper!
Control : [after taking a long sip from his tea cup] I want you to stay, uh, out in the cold... a little longer.
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Control : A shark can smell blood a mile off when he's hungry, and Mundt is hungry for our blood.
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Control : Fiedler, my dear Alec, is the lynchpin of our plan. Fiedler's the only man who's a match for Mundt, and, er... he hates his guts. Fiedler's a Jew, of course, and Mundt's quite the other thing.
