But I think the real tension lies in the relationship between what you might call the pursuer and his quarry, whether it's the writer or the spy.

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

When you're my age and you see a story, you better go for it pretty quickly. I'd just like to get a few more novels under my belt.

In the hands of politicians grand designs achieve nothing but new forms of the old misery.

There is no such thing as a secure writer: every novel is an impossible mountain.

I move my lips when I read -- I'm painfully slow -- so I like really good English.

It's death, that's what I'm suffering from. The systematic encroachment of the big D.