The one thing you can bet is that spying is never over. Spying is like the wiring in this building: It's just a question of who takes it over and switches on the lights. It will go on and on and on.

When it's going well [writing] goes terribly fast. It isn't at all surprising to write a chapter in a day, which for me is about twenty-two pages. When it's going badly, it isn't really going badly; it's just the beginning.

The things that are done in the name of the shareholder are, to me, as terrifying as the things that are done - dare I say it - in the name of God.

I mean, you can't be less ruthless than the opposition simply because your government's policy is benevolent, can you now?

Thank heaven, though, one of the few mistakes I haven't made is to talk about the unwritten book.

Writing is like walking in a deserted street. Out of the dust in the street you make a mud pie.

I've never been able to write a book without one very strong character in my rucksack.