Chapter 13, “Pins or Paper Clips” (p. 115)
“

If they do not know what they want, how can they be so certain they are right?

— John le Carré

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "If they do not know what they want, how can they be so certain they are right?" in the context of "Chapter 13, “Pins or Paper Clips” (p. 115)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "John le Carré" (Quotes, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963): Numerous editions. Page numbers here are from the trade paperback edition published by Simon & Schuster/Pocket Books in December 2001, , 14th printing ) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
John le Carré

About John le Carré

John le Carré is the pen-name of David John Moore Cornwell (19 October 1931 – 12 December 2020), who was a British writer of spy novels and a former spy himself.