Good people don't spend their time being good. Good people want to spend their time mowing the lawn and playing with the dog. But bad people spend all their time being bad. It is all they think about.

I invented the historical spy novel.

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

The best Paris I know now is in my head.

Wherever God has planted you, you must know how to flower - translated from a French saying

I expect that my readers have been to Europe, I expect them to have some feeling for a foreign language, I expect them to have read books - there are a lot of people like that! That's my audience.

Whether you like it or not, Paris is the beating heart of Western civilisation. It's where it all began and ended.