Once you have your characters, they tell you what to write, you don't tell them.

If you can live in Paris, maybe you should.

Politicians were like talking dogs in a circus: the fact that they existed was uncommonly interesting, but no sane person would actually believe what they said

I invented the historical spy novel.

You write a lot of books; you hope you get better.

And, with much of Europe occupied by Nazi Germany, and Mussolini's armies in Albania, on the Greek frontier, one wasn't sure what came next. So, don't trust the telephone. Or the newspapers. Or the radio. Or tomorrow.

I write what I call 'novels of consolation' for people who are bright and sophisticated.