The monsters of our childhood do not fade away, neither are they ever wholly monstrous.

Once you've lived the inside-out world of espionage, you never shed it. It's a mentality, a double standard of existence.

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

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

The Secret Intelligence Service I knew occupied dusky suites of little rooms opposite St James's Park Tube station in London.

Having your book turned into a movie is like seeing your oxen turned into bouillon cubes.

What do you think spies are: priests, saints and martyrs? They're a squalid procession of vain fools, traitors too, yes; pansies, sadists and drunkards, people who play cowboys and Indians to brighten their rotten lives.