I mean, you can't be less ruthless than the opposition simply because your government's policy is benevolent, can you now?

It struck him as a bit unfair that, at the age of eight, he should have manifested the same sense of solitude that haunted him at forty-three.

During the Cold War, we lived in coded times when it wasn't easy and there were shades of grey and ambiguity.

A spy, like a writer, lives outside the mainstream population. He steals his experience through bribes and reconstructs it.

I used to think it was clever to confuse comedy with tragedy. Now I wish I could distinguish them.

But there is a big difference in working for the West and working for a totalitarian state.

It's the oldest question of all, George. Who can spy on the spies?