I don't think it is given to any of us to be impertinent to great religions with impunity.

History keeps her secrets longer than most of us. But she has one secret that I will reveal to you tonight in the greatest confidence. Sometimes there are no winners at all. And sometimes nobody needs to lose.

The fact that you can only do a little is no excuse for doing nothing.

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 was quite able at the insignificant work I did in MI6, but absolutely dysfunctional in my domestic life. I had no experience of fatherhood. I had no example of marital bliss or the family unit.

It's easy to forget what intelligence consists of: luck and speculation. Here and there a windfall, here and there a scoop.

Yet it's not for want of future that I'm here, he thought. It's for want of a present.