An Officer And A Spy Quotes
"Even the yellow electric lights in the War Ministry, shimmering through the gauzy trees, have a quality of magic."
"The human impulse to watch another’s humiliation will always prove sufficient insulation against even the bitterest cold."
"I describe how I left my apartment in the pre-dawn darkness to walk to the École Militaire, and how the streets, to begin with at least, were unusually quiet."
"Mercier muses, ‘What kind of tune does one play to drown a man out, I wonder?’"
"‘Of course it’s a Jewish trait!’ retorted Sandherr. ‘This is a race entirely without patriotism, or honour, or pride. They have done nothing but betray the people they live among for centuries, starting with Jesus Christ.’"
"‘I am innocent!’ which would draw jeers and cries of ‘Judas!’ and ‘Jewish traitor!’ from the watching crowd."
"As I watched him go, I realised the gleam in his hair was saliva. He must have wondered what part I had played in his ruin."
"‘But what shall I tell God?’ ‘Tell Him I’ll be in the Café du Commerce in the square over there.’"
"I need to put him in a place where it’s impossible for him to talk to anyone. I don’t want him smuggling out any more treasonous messages."
"Exposing a traitor like Dreyfus is as vital to France as winning a battle in the field."
"My skin crawls slightly; I feel as if I am wearing the outfit of a dead man."
"The sophistication talk is just a babble of phonemes, the music mere scrapes and twangs of gut and wire."
"We are taken in by households and fed and made a fuss of; in return we are expected to provide amusement."
"My darling Lucie, At last I am able to write you a word."
"Let them search. I ask no favour, but I ask the justice that is the right of every human being."
"What a sad and terrible martyrdom is this for both of us, for all of us!"
"I cannot tell you the sadness and the grief I feel while you are going further and further away. My days pass in anxious thoughts, my nights in frightful dreams."
"Only the children, with their pretty ways and the pure innocence of their souls, succeed in reminding me of the one compelling duty I must fulfil."
"If we’re going to eavesdrop, let’s at least encourage them to say something."
"Nothing is so depressing, nothing so exhausts the energy of heart and mind as these long agonising silences."
"Why, if he’s fifty and the son-in-law of a marquis, is he stuck in a dump like this? Because he has no money."
"What chief of any organisation is not complained about behind his back, especially if he is trying to run it with some discipline and efficiency?"
"It’s always an easy mistake to make, to think that the first dodgy fellow you come across is a master spy."
"Already I trust no one. How long before I am raving like Sandherr about degenerates and foreigners?"
"As so often in life, it's just better than the alternative."
"Not all my time is devoted to investigating... I have other things to worry about – not least, the treasonable activity of homing pigeons."
"Are their corpses in the cellar, by any chance? What on earth do you do here all day?"
"You really think this stuff is good, Colonel?"
"I take out my own pen and begin composing a report. For an hour we work in companionable silence..."
"I am willing to accept such prolixity from Tolstoy but not from Zola."
"If God created the world, I would not care to be God."
"But he that filches from me my good name Robs me of that which not enriches him And makes me poor indeed."
"I wouldn't let you into my country dressed like that, but then I'm not Swiss!"
"It seems to me that you both couldn't wait to get back on that train to Paris."
"Who steals my purse steals trash. ’Tis something, nothing: 'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands."
"I am scrupulous not to let any personal prejudices affect my judgement."
"I didn’t hear you coming up the stairs, Colonel."
"I wonder, do you keep the original bordereau up here?"
"You’d never guess it looked like this from the photograph."
"His tongue moistens his top lip as if he’s studying a pornographic print."
"Despite the restricted circle, it was inevitable that news would leak."
"Old incidents were dredged up and picked over, ancient rumours and feuds revived."
"‘Shoot me if you want to, but I am innocent!’ He was like a character in a play."
"He might laugh abruptly, or tap his nose and adopt an air of great mystery."
"Is that really what I look like? Is that who I am?"
"I have been silent for a while. Suddenly I am aware of Gribelin, still staring at me."
"The room was hushed. The carpeted windows seemed to seal us off from the outside world."
"As far as the world is concerned, Captain Alfred Dreyfus will have vanished from the face of the earth."
"In my insomnia I end up counting the distant chimes of the church clocks every hour."
"I can scarcely believe he can be so certain so quickly."
"If only you knew how much specific evidence we have against that swine."
"Every word uttered in that room will leak one day."
"My dear Henry, I’m here to observe the court martial, not interfere in it."
"Oh, Georges, everybody knows! Everybody’s known for years!"
"Because, as I have just explained to you, the Dreyfus case is over."
"What he offers them is so trivial even the Germans want to sever their connection with him."
"Investigate Esterhazy if you like, but don’t bring the bordereau into it."
"A court martial has already decided who wrote the bordereau. That case is closed."
"There is no such thing as a secret – not really, not in the modern world."
"Sooner or later most things will be revealed."
"I wish he were guilty – it would make my life a great deal easier."
"Taking secrets to the grave is the essence of our profession."
"We simply say: ‘Seven judges considered all the evidence. They reached a unanimous verdict. The case is closed.’"
"How is it I did not go crazy during the long, dreadful night?"
"This is not a security precaution. This is a measure of hatred and torture."
"We have to give them what they want, Colonel – they’re the chiefs."
"You have to take hard decisions. But I’ve seen all this before."
"Today the press is Dreyfus, Dreyfus, Dreyfus; tomorrow, without some new disclosure, they’ll have forgotten all about him, you’ll see."
"To care only for well-being seems to me positively ill-bred. Whether it's good or bad, it is sometimes very pleasant, too, to smash things."
"I wonder: do these severed heads also briefly share the illusion that they are alive? Do they see people staring down at them and imagine, for an instant or two before the darkness rushes in, that they can still communicate?"
"My God, is there anything in this wretched man’s life apart from work?"
"The atmosphere is funereal. Even though the report appears to vindicate Dreyfus’s conviction, it is a calamity for our section."
"I am unable to sit still. The most quotidian sounds of Parisian life – children playing in the park, the clip-clop of traffic, the cry of a hawker – seem charged with menace."
"Leave it to me," his personage seems to say. "I have made a study of all that is difficult in this world, I have mastered it, and I am ready to place my mastery at your disposal for an appropriate fee."
"It’s difficult to know where to start. You remember I came to see you in the middle of November, to tell you I was going away?"
"You just have to let things go and gain satisfaction from serving a regiment in Africa."
"I’m sorry that you are suffering, but I hope that after resting in Lyon you will regain your strength. Meanwhile prepare yourself to depart for Marseille and Nice."
"I want to see justice done – that above all. I’m anxious that the army should emerge from this scandal with as little damage as possible: I still love the army."
"It's a nightmare to sit here idly not knowing what is going on."
"What makes a hero? Courage, strength, morality, withstanding adversity? Are these the traits that truly show and create a hero?"
"I have not given him any facts myself, General."
"I wouldn’t describe it as having been a pleasure exactly to have you under my command, but it has certainly been interesting."
"The only thing that concerns me is your emotion while reading this."
"I’m afraid even scientists occasionally make mistakes, General. But in the end the date is of no significance."
"Treason itself is mostly a question of dates, as the saying has it."
"Your outrage is irrelevant. Answer the question."
"Only when it became clear that I had no alternative – that my superiors would not fully investigate this whole affair."
"I had no need to forge any evidence. The bordereau alone is proof of Esterhazy’s guilt – and no one can suggest I altered that!"
"Reality must be transformed into a work of art, if you will."
"It is such an absurd idea, Pauline and Esterhazy together, that I find myself emitting a gasp of laughter."
"Most people will be only too happy to believe I work for a Jewish syndicate."
"I carry hatred inside me. It is an almost physical thing, like a concealed knife."
"I prefer to dress in civilian clothes in order not to draw attention to myself."
"But then I think of Pauline, of how when I discovered her on my bed she could only keep repeating the same phrase, over and over: ‘He won’t let me see the girls . . .’"
"We cling to one another on my narrow bed, like survivors of a shipwreck."
"And yet there are limits to how well the imagination can prepare one for disaster."
"All is darkness – indeed, Dreyfus is actually worse off than he was six months ago, for he has now been doubly condemned."
"I have a bed and a chair, pen and paper, and plenty of books – what more does a man want?"
"There are occasions when losing is a victory, so long as there is a fight."
"All the architects of the Dreyfus affair...are covering up the mistakes that were made under my predecessor."