The longing we have to communicate cleanly and directly with people is always obstructed by qualifications and often with concern about how our messages will be received.

The trouble is, when professional spies go out of their way to make a definitive statement about one of their own, the public tends to believe the opposite: which puts us all back where we started.

The cat sat on the mat is not a story. The cat sat on the other cat’s mat is a story.

I taught principally German language and literature at Eton. But any master with private pupils must be prepared to teach anything they ask for. That can be as diverse as the early paintings of Salvador Dali or how bumblebees manage to fly.

Smiley was soaked to the skin and God as a punishment had removed all taxis from the face of London.

There will be no war, but in the pursuit of principle no stone will be left standing.

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