People who've had very unhappy childhoods are pretty good at inventing themselves. If nobody invents you for yourself, nothing is left but to invent yourself for others.

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.

If you believe the world is conspiring against you it will just do that

Sleep is my only ally united by a dream treaty

Show some mercy to your 'time', don't always waste it.

Each age tries to form its own conception of the past. Each age writes the history of the past anew with reference to the conditions uppermost in its own time.

I just do whatever I do, and put it out there without tryin to cater to anybody. If you like it, you like it.

Become a teacher. Your country needs you.

Sucking your thumb without a blanket is like eating a cone without ice cream!

Inspiration comes from all different places.

I have a wonderful husband, and we have had a great life.

We all do better, when we all do better.