...also took for granted that secret services were the only real measure of a nations political health, the only real expression of its subconscious.

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.

You may be anybody now. One day, you will be just a faded memory.

Rebuilding relationship requires a lifelong discipline and commitment.

The sensation Ihad experienced vanished like smoke from a snuffed candle, leaving behind wisps of namelesslonging.

Often, you'll fail. But, as my mother also taught me, failure isn't the opposite of success - it's a stepping stone to success.

That power is in vain which is never in use.

Christmas shows us the ties that bind us together, threads of love and caring, woven in the simplest and strongest way within the family.

Ambition is a passion, at once strong and insidious, and is very apt to cheat a man out of his happiness and his true respectability of character

See, a good habit makes a child a man, Whereas a bad one makes a man a beast.

People put 'study abroad' on their resume. I actually like when they don't study abroad because that means they aren't entitled.

To be honest, it's a bit of a relief not having to be the party animal for a change.