I had two experiences of criminality: one was my conman father, the other was teaching at Eton

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.

Such a voice this man has. The way he sounds isn't a sound at all. It's a river into which words are thrown.

I don’t want to live— 
I want to love first, and live…incidentally.

Wisdom comes with winters

I foresee a Liberal vote so massive and the number of Liberal MPs so great that we shall hold the initiative in the new Parliament.

China has an almost infinite need for energy, and frankly, the world would be better off if much of that need goes in the direction of wind power.

I know I'd rather have any amount of time with a dog I love and suffer the mourning than not have the time at all.

It is hard to stay focused with so much swirling around me. God is distracting. He never stops talking, and I can never stop listening. There is a reason we sleep.

We must act together, as a united people... For the birth of a new world. Let there be justice for all. Let there be peace for all. Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all.

Mind is blocking the fountain of intelligence like a rock.

If you are ever going to lie, you go to jail for the lie rather than the crime. So believe me, don't ever lie.