Every writer knows he is spurious; every fiction writer would rather be credible than authentic.

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.

But I am a just man, even to my enemy—and I will acknowledge, beforehand, that they are cleverer brains than I thought them.

To enjoy a thing exclusively is commonly to exlcude yourself from the true enjoyment of it.

Indeed one of the best ways to deflect attacks is to make it look like they're succeeding. It's the software equivalent of playing dead.

The care of our national commerce redounds more to the riches and prosperity of the public than any other act of government.

There is plenty of room for us all to succeed and carve our own path.

You have your words, and I have mine.

If the secret of being a bore is to tell all, the secret of pleasing is to say just enough to be -not understood, but divined.

Hollywood is full of very liberal people, but it still has an infrastructure that needs to be broken.

I think some of the most interesting stuff was seeing how the Dark Web works and seeing how easy it is for hackers to break into your computer or your bank account or your private information.

Improve relationships with others by assuming that they can hear everything you say about them