The aging process seems to strike first at the mechanism which warns that we have been talking too much and the listener is growing restless. The signal isn't perfect at any age - drink, for instance, throws it right out of kilter - but it is almost non-existent in old people.

When you're interviewing someone, you're in control. When you're being interviewed, you think you're in control, but you're not.

For Castro, freedom starts with education. And if literacy alone were the yardstick, Cuba would rank as one of the freest nations on Earth.

If you were a tree, what kind would you be?

I can get a better grasp of what is going on in the world from one good Washington dinner party than from all the background information NBC piles on my desk.

For a man who likes to talk, Fidel Castro does very few interviews.

I first interviewed Fidel Castro 39 years ago. He was charming and fiercely guarded about his private life. He called our interviews 'fiery debates.' During our times together, he made clear to me that he was an absolute dictator and that he was a staunch opponent of democracy.