Tilting at windmills 1988, which contained the song "Tilting at Windmills". Tilting at windmills Tilting at windmills is an English idiom that means attacking imaginary enemies. The expression is derived from the 1605 novel "Don Quixote" by Miguel de Cervantes, and the word "tilt" in this context comes from jousting. The phrase is sometimes used to describe either confrontations where adversaries are incorrectly perceived, or courses of action that are based on misinterpreted or misapplied heroic, romantic, or idealistic justifications. It may also connote an importune, unfounded, and vain effort against adversaries real or imagined for a vain goal. The phrase comes from
Control (fictional character) to identify this mole, before falling into a trap set up by Karla to accelerate his departure. Control (fictional character) Control is a fictional character created by John le Carré. Control is an intelligence officer who acts as the head of "The Circus" (Cambridge Circus, London), the British overseas intelligence agency. He is a character in the novels "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold", "The Looking Glass War" and "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy", and is referred to in several others, usually by association with le Carré's recurring protagonist George Smiley, who has served as Control's right-hand man. "Control"