There will be no war, but in the pursuit of principle no stone will be left standing.

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.

Sometimes we have to do a thing in order to find out the reason for it. Sometimes our actions are questions, not answers.

I happen to write by hand. I don't even type.

Ideologies have no heart of their own. They're the whores and angels of our striving selves.

Completing a book, it's a little like having a baby.

We have learned in recent years to translate almost all of political life in terms of conspiracy. And the spy novel, as never before, really, has come into its own.