A good writer can watch a cat pad across the street and know what it is to be pounced upon by a Bengal tiger.

It's the oldest question of all, George. Who can spy on the spies?

During the Cold War, we lived in coded times when it wasn't easy and there were shades of grey and ambiguity.

A desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world.

The only reward for love is the experience of loving.

Let's all pretend to be someone else, and then perhaps we'll find out who we are.

I think the greatest single enemy is the misuse of information, the perversion of truth in the hands of terribly skillful people.

The cat sat on the mat is not a story. The cat sat on the other cat’s mat is a story.

I used to think it was clever to confuse comedy with tragedy. Now I wish I could distinguish them.

Blackmail is more effective than bribery.

A spy, like a writer, lives outside the mainstream population. He steals his experience through bribes and reconstructs it.

Be open to ideas and thoughts you disagree with. It will unleash a debate in your mind and soul.

Their pull was undeniable, like fireworks on top of flaming bonfires.

I’m a holiday Christian at best and I’d never given much thought to demons. They were an adult version of the boogieman hiding in every kid’s closet.

Edify a person in advance for the positive traits you want him or her to have, and you'll find them making a concerted effort to live up to your praise.

As you keep moving forward, you can stay upright even when outside forces try to pull you down.

The materials of the novelist must be real; they must be gathered from the field of humanity by his actual observation.

Religion is the opium of the people translated from the German Die Religion ... ist das Opium des Volkessometimes misquoted as opiate of the people.

I was hopeless, now I'm on Hope Road.

Once the social and spiritual opening was created for women in the form of spiritualism, suddenly ambitious women who wanted to participate in the culture had a kind of a voice.

In politics people build whole reputations off of getting one thing right.