Pounded to death by the thunder of its own prosperity

The once ancient, free, and Hanseatic city of Hamburg, now almost pounded to death by the thunder of its own prosperity

J. Le Carré, Smiley's People (1979), 27

Have you never discussed philosophy with them?

'Have you never discussed philosophy with them?'
'No. We're not Germans.'

J. Le Carre, The spy who came in from the cold (1963), 138