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.

It's the oldest question of all, George. Who can spy on the spies?

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

A desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world.

The only reward for love is the experience of loving.

Let's all pretend to be someone else, and then perhaps we'll find out who we are.

I think the greatest single enemy is the misuse of information, the perversion of truth in the hands of terribly skillful people.

The cat sat on the mat is not a story. The cat sat on the other cat’s mat is a story.

I used to think it was clever to confuse comedy with tragedy. Now I wish I could distinguish them.

Blackmail is more effective than bribery.

A spy, like a writer, lives outside the mainstream population. He steals his experience through bribes and reconstructs it.

We have reached a place too dark to see, so we shall go together.

Persist with great passion and fulfill your great dreams.

A conglomerate of complicated words, they confuse, condemn and cajole, created, he is sure, for the sole purpose of fuddling the listener, which in this case is regrettably him.

Playing around is one thing; following an established regimen is quite another. It's true with exercise equipment and it is true with prayer.

In love swallow your pride but never your dignity.

I knew no one who'd ever been in the public eye.

With Los Angeles, it's kind of a love-hate thing. Sometimes I think it's marvelous, and sometimes I think it's a dump. It's so fake and I can't deal with how fake it is.

It is a crime and a sin to regard a person as untouchable because he is born in a particular community.

The biggest lie in choosing is, "I can't." That is simply not true. We can do anything we want If we don't do something, it is because we have committed our time, energy and resources somewhere else.

Wake up: all of that 'crack in the street' talk? It's made up, like 'Jack and the Beanstalk.'