As our Governments spin, lie and lose their credibility, the electorate simply shrugs and looks the other way.

Every writer knows he is spurious; every fiction writer would rather be credible than authentic.

Elections are a Western jerk-off.

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.

I think the greatest single enemy is the misuse of information, the perversion of truth in the hands of terribly skillful people.

There is a big difference between fighting the cold war and fighting radical Islam. The rules have changed and we haven't.

A dead man is the worst enemy alive, I thought. You can't alter his power over you. You can't alter what you love or owe. And it's too late to ask him for his absolution. He has beaten you all ways.