Our power knows no limits, yet we cannot find food for a starving child, or a home for a refugee. Our knowledge is without measure and we build the weapons that will destroy us. We live on the edge of ourselves, terrified of the darkness within. We have harmed, corrupted and ruined, we have made mistakes and deceived.

To possess another language, Charlemagne tells us, is to possess another soul. German is such a language. Once you have it in your head, you can go there anytime, you can close the door, you have a refuge.

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

The good pupils are often brilliant, and they keep you on your toes and take you to the limits of your knowledge. The worst pupils provide a unique insight into the criminal mind.

...also took for granted that secret services were the only real measure of a nations political health, the only real expression of its subconscious.

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

By the age of 9 or 10, I knew that I had to cut my own cloth and make my own way.