I've often thought there ought to be a manual to hand to little kids, telling them what kind of planet they're on, why they don't fall off it, how much time they've probably got here, how to avoid poison ivy, and so on.

Did you ever admire an empty-headed writer for his or her mastery of the language? No. So your own winning style must begin with ideas in your head.

I would have been dead if it weren't for that great gift to civilization from the Chemistry Department of Harvard, which was napalm, or sticky jellied gasoline.

Generally speaking, espionage offers each spy an opportunity to go crazy in a way he finds irresistible.

Time is liquid. One moment is no more important than any other and all moments quickly run away.

God damn it, you've got to be kind.

One might be led to suspect that there were all sorts of things going on in the Universe which he or she did not thoroughly understand.