It's part of a writer's profession, as it's part of a spy's profession, to prey on the community to which he's attached, to take away information - often in secret - and to translate that into intelligence for his masters, whether it's his readership or his spy masters. And I think that both professions are perhaps rather lonely.

A good writer is an expert on nothing except himself. And on that subject, if he is wise, he holds his tongue.

Until we have a better relationship between private performance and the public truth, as was demonstrated with Watergate, we as the public are absolutely right to remain suspicious, contemptuous even, of the secrecy and the misinformation which is the digest of our news.

In every operation there is an above the line and a below the line. Above the line is what you do by the book. Below the line is how you do the job.

For decades to come the spy world will continue to be the collective couch where the subconscious of each nation is confessed.

It's a principle of mine to come into the story as late as possible, and to tell it as fast as you can.

The pharmaceutical corporations are engaged in the systematic corruption of the medical profession, country by country