It wasn't something I started off in my teens or early twenties thinking I want to be a war correspondent. I still don't think of myself as a war correspondent. I'm not. I'm a foreign correspondent.

I think it would be slightly perverse to continue tempting fate by going back to the same places and doing the same sort of thing.

Conflict is part of being a foreign correspondent; spending long hours talking to politicians in capitals is another part of it.

War is part of what I do, it's not what I do. It's certainly not what I am and who I am.

The illusion that times that were are better than those that are has probably pervaded all ages.

Humans love truth and justice, and rejoice in ceremonies that honor those qualities. For that sentiment we should indeed thank God.

If in 100 years I am only known as the man who invented Sherlock Holmes then I will have considered my life a failure.

Kindness can change the lives of people.

When there's no clear option, it's better to do nothing.

That lies should be necessary to life is part and parcel of the terrible and questionable character of existence.

What if it were true that nature speaks in signs and that the secret to understanding its language consists in noticing similarities in shape or in form?

I wish I had stayed and finished my career here in New York.

The way to get killed around machinery was to take things for granted.

Only a well-oiled machine runs smoothly.