Sunday was the normal day for the political awareness session at sea. Ordinarily Putin would have officiated, reading some Pravada editorials, followed by selected quotations from the works of Lenin and a discussion of the lessons to be learned from the readings. It is very much like a church service.

She didn't strike me as a "crossword in ink" kind of girl

Being a victim is more palatable than having to recognize the intrinsic contradictions of one's own governing philosophy.

I wanted to see my name on the cover of a book. If your name is in the Library of Congress, you're immortal.

I do not over-intellectualise the production process. I try to keep it simple: Tell the damned story.

America is the most inventive country in the world. Why? Because everybody has access to information. In the Soviet Union it was illegal to take a photograph of a train station. Look what happened to them.

About forty percent of the people vote Democrat. About forty percent vote Republican. Of those eighty percent, most wouldn't change their votes if Adolf Hitler was running against Abe Lincoln - or against FDR. . . . That leaves twenty percent of the people who swing back one way or another . . . the true independents. . . . That twenty percent controls the destiny of the country.