“So, his Slavonic Majesty hires thieves to spy for him. Spying is such a foul business that I am surprised that even a good Angevin thief would stoop to it.”

—  Michael Kurland, book Ten Little Wizards

He turned to Lord Peter with a sudden realization. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to imply—”
”That’s all right, Your Highness,” Lord Peter said. “It’s a common reaction. Their spies are dirty, filthy scum, not fit to wipe your boots on, while our spies are noble gentlemen doing dangerous work for the love of King and Country. Would that it were so, Your Highness, but I’m afraid that sometimes the desired image is at fault—in both directions.”
Source: Ten Little Wizards (1988), Chapter 4 (p. 33)

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Michael Kurland35
American writer 1938

Related quotes

““So, his Slavonic Majesty hires thieves to spy for him. Spying is such a foul business that I am surprised that even a good Angevin thief would stoop to it.” He turned to Lord Peter with a sudden realization. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to imply—”
”That’s all right, Your Highness,” Lord Peter said. “It’s a common reaction. Their spies are dirty, filthy scum, not fit to wipe your boots on, while our spies are noble gentlemen doing dangerous work for the love of King and Country. Would that it were so, Your Highness, but I’m afraid that sometimes the desired image is at fault—in both directions.””

Michael Kurland book Ten Little Wizards

Source: Ten Little Wizards (1988), Chapter 4 (p. 33)

“The Watchman falls "into" the trap of looking. The "spy" is a different person.... The spy must be ready to "move", must be aware of his entrances and exits. The watchman leaves his job & takes away no information. The spy must remember & must remember himself & his remembering. The spy designs himself to be overlooked. The watchman "serves" as a warning. Will the spy & the watchman ever meet? In a painting named SPY, will he be present? The spy stations himself to observe the watchman. If the spy is a foreign object, why is the eye not irritated? Is he invisible? When the spy irritates, we try to remove him. "Not spying, just looking"”

Jasper Johns (1930) American artist

Watchman. Somewhere here, there is the question of "seeing clearly". Seeing what? According to what?
Book A (sketchbook), c 1965: as quoted in Jasper Johns, Writings, sketchbook Notes, Interviews, ed. Kirk Varnedoe, Moma New York, 1996, p. 60
1960s

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“I am a straightforward man, with no crime on my conscience,
But I was accused of being a spy for China
So life, you see, is never a very smooth business
And now the present bristles with difficulties.”

Ho Chi Minh (1890–1969) Vietnamese communist leader and first president of Vietnam

"Hard is the Road of Life"
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“I'm a spy… I worked for the CIA 15 years. The cover was I worked for the insurance business.”

Tom Clancy (1947–2013) American author

Said Jokingly.
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“Trump should be happy that the FBI was SPYING on his campaign”

James Clapper (1941) US government official

Misquoted in a tweet by Donald Trump, of an interview Clapper gave on the television show The View
[Qiu, Linda, Trump Incorrectly Quotes James Clapper to Falsely Claim F.B.I. Spied on Campaign, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/23/us/politics/fact-check-trump-clapper-campaign-spy.html, 27 July 2018, The New York Times]
Misattributed

“We can't spy on them if they aren't spying on us, now can we?" Warped logic, but okay.”

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“Signs cannot be represented, in a spy’s report, so damningly as words.”

Stendhal book The Red and the Black

Les signes ne peuvent pas figurer, dans un rapport d'espion, aussi avantageusement que des paroles.
Vol. I, ch. XXVII
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“There will come a time when it isn't 'They're spying on me through my phone' anymore. Eventually, it will be 'My phone is spying on me'.”

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Ally Carter (1974) American writer

Source: United We Spy

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