When it comes to recruiting people for the secret world, what the recruiters are looking for is pretty much what I had. I was unanchored, looking for an institution to look after me. I had a bit of larceny. I understood larceny. I understood the natural criminality in people - because it was - it was all around me. And I have no doubt there was a chunk of it inside me too. Once I found that identity, it took root in me. It exactly - it gelled with the world that I'd known in the past.

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

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

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.

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

Blackmail is more effective than bribery.

Elections are a Western jerk-off.