A committee is an animal with four back legs.
Source: Smiley, in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, pt. 3, ch. 34, 1974.
-- John LeCarre, (Oct 19 1931-____), English novelist; He (aka David John Moore Cornwell) made George Smiley, antithesis of James Bond, famous in Call from the Dead, 1962; also wrote Little Drummer Girl, 1983 and Perfect Spy, 1986.