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.

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

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.

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

I can't think of anybody worse to live with.

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

I'm really a library man, or second-hand book man.