It was a charming fantasy of romantics that the spies would stop spying, that political conflict would end and politicians would tell the truth. Unfortunately that has not been the case.

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.

Society is built upon trust.

If you have never failed, you have never tried anything new.

The goal is to make something that sounds new and different.

Big fish eat small fish with as much right as they have power.

So many girls have become famous for literally nothing - other than falling out of clubs in shocking clothing or going out with a different person every week.

A church is a soul-saving company or it is nothing.

When we give in the world what we want the most, we heal the broken part inside each of us.

These are bad days for all of us who remember always that when real world forces come into conflict, the final result is never as dark as we mortals guess it in very difficult days.

The commendation of adversaries is the greatest triumph of a writer, because it never comes unless extorted.

My wife taught me the importance of living well.