The world of spying is my genre. My struggle is to demystify, to de-romanticise the spook world, but at the same time harness it as a good story.

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.

When his brain died, all of the memoriesheld in his gray matter, along with all of the knowledge he had acquired, would simply evaporatein a flood of chemical reactions.

That's the best thing about little sisters: They spend so much time wishing they were elder sisters that in the end they're far wiser than the elder ones could ever be.

I like to try to do a little work before I do anything in the morning, even if it's a paragraph.

We especially need imagination in science.

We are here to heal, not harm. We are here to love, not hate. We are here to create, not destroy.

There can be no higher enjoyment found in this world that is found in pulling souls out of the fire and bringing them to Christ.

New Customers come from the action of past customers

To strictest justice many ills belong, And honesty is often in the wrong.

We cannot afford not to fight for growth and understanding, even when it is painful, as it is bound to be.

Don't give your power away to anybody. If you find something to do that you truly love, you'll be successful.