I was the British spy who had come out of the woodwork and told it how it really was, and anything I said to the contrary only enforced the myth. And since I was writing for a public hooked on Bond and desperate for the antidote, the myth stuck.

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

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

And the ideologies trailed after these impossible events like condemned prisoners, as ideologies do when they've had their day. Because they have no heart of their own. They're the whores and angels of our striving selves.

America has entered one of its periods of historic madness, but this is the worst I can remember.

I was the British spy who had come out of the woodwork and told it how it really was, and anything I said to the contrary only enforced the myth. And since I was writing for a public hooked on Bond and desperate for the antidote, the myth stuck.

My definition of a decent society is one that first of all takes care of its losers, and protects its weak.