I taught principally German language and literature at Eton. But any master with private pupils must be prepared to teach anything they ask for. That can be as diverse as the early paintings of Salvador Dali or how bumblebees manage to fly.

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

Home's where you go when you run out of homes.

I think that all writers feel alienated. ... I know that I do. ... I still feel, as I think most creative people do, absolutely isolated.

I don't know whether it's age or maturity, but I certainly find myself committed more and more to the looser forms of Western democracy at any price.

Love is whatever you can still betray. Betrayal can only happen if you love.

For decades to come the spy world will continue to be the collective couch where the subconscious of each nation is confessed.