Sometimes James Bond movies drive me crazy. They're fun to watch, but they don't have anything to do at all with what intelligence officers really do.

Luck is the residue of good planning.

Retrospective analysis is not a useful guide to current problems.

When the big guys in Washington dream of transforming the world, it’s the little guys who come home in body bags.

I think Republicans so mistrust Barack Obama, that if Barack Obama says Putin is terrible, they will be some Republicans who just take the other side.

U.S. has been trying to encourage Iraq to pass a law that would provide money and training and weapons for a Sunni national guard that could be effective in places like Ramadi, like Mosul

Well, I think the U.S. has been careful not to go too far in attacking Iran's allies, in particular in attacking Hezbollah forces in Syria, which have been propping up the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

I believe, that there is at least de facto cooperation between United States and Iran, at least in Iraq.

Misdirection. False signals. Spreading confusion. This is the Tao of deception.

The ISI is above all a paramilitary organization. It doesn't do all that much collection of intelligence. It's not a very good spy agency, but it's good at running covert action.

Journalists couldn't do their jobs overseas without taking risks, and the same is true for diplomats and intelligence officers.

Media. I think I have heard of her. Isn't she the one who killed her children?

The key is to maintain an evenness. Try to play one possession at a time, regardless of what happened on the last possession

People who inspire others are those who see invisible bridges at the end of dead-end streets

dying nowadays is more gruesome in many ways, namely, more lonely, mechanical, and dehumanized; at times it is even difficult to determine technically when the time of death has occurred.

Capitalism is not an economic system, but a world-outlook, or rather, a part of a whole world-outlook

The individual who is the servant of technique must be completely unconscious of himself.

This view of the text comports with the all but unanimous understanding of the Founding Fathers.

It is ideas, not vested interests, which are dangerous for good or evil.

All flowers are beautiful in their own way, and that's like women too.