When I wrote the first [Bond novel] in 1953, I wanted Bond to be an extremely dull, uninteresting man to whom things happened... when I was casting around for a name for my protagonist I thought by God, [James Bond] is the dullest name I ever heard.

History is moving pretty quickly these days, and the heroes and villains keep on changing parts.

I'm looking for Commander James Bond, not an overgrown stunt man. [on meeting Sean Connery]

I'm not in the Shakespeare stakes. I have no ambition.

It reads better than it lives

And then one day when you're playing your little game you'll suddenly find yourself pinned down like a butterfly.

I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them.