" Bogus Oxford men he could deal with, just as in his time he had known classics masters who had no Greek and parsons who had no divinity. Such men, confronted with proof of their deception, broke down and wept and left, or stayed on half-pay. But men who withheld genuine accomplishment—these were a breed he had not met but he knew already that he did not like them. "

― John le Carré , Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (George Smiley, #5; Karla Trilogy #1)