 America has entered one of its periods of historic madness, but this is the worst I can remember. |
| Remember Graham Green's dictum that childhood is the bank balance of the writer? I think that all writers feel alienated. Most of us go back to an alienated childhood in some way or another. I know that I do. |
| The Cold War was over long before it was officially declared dead. |
| We lie to one another every day, in the sweetest way, often unconsciously. We dress ourselves and compose ourselves in order to present ourselves to one another. |
| I'm really a library man, or second-hand book man. |
| Fools, most linguists. Damn all to say in one language, so they learn another and say damn all in that. |
| A desk is a dangerous place from which to view the world. |
| If I had to put a name to it, I would wish that all my books were entertainments. I think the first thing you've got to do is grab the reader by the ear, and make him sit down and listen. Make him laugh, make him feel. We all want to be entertained at a very high level. |
| People who've had very unhappy childhoods are pretty good at inventing themselves. If nobody invents you for yourself, nothing is left but to invent yourself for others. |
| In every war zone that I've been in, there has been a reality and then there has been the public perception of why the war was being fought. In every crisis, the issues have been far more complex than the public has been allowed to know. |
| By the age of 9 or 10, I knew that I had to cut my own cloth and make my own way. |
| If there is one eternal truth of politics, it is that there are always a dozen good reasons for doing nothing. |
| The longing we have to communicate cleanly and directly with people is always obstructed by qualifications and often with concern about how our messages will be received. |
| I made a series of wrong decisions about moderately recent books, and I've sold the rights to studios for ridiculous amounts of money and the films have never been made. That's the saddest thing of all, because they're locked up and no one else can make them. |
| I've always had difficulties with female characters. |
| Writing is like walking in a deserted street. Out of the dust in the street you make a mud pie. |
| Most people like to read about intrigue and spies. I hope to provide a metaphor for the average reader's daily life. Most of us live in a slightly conspiratorial relationship with our employer and perhaps with our marriage. |
| History keeps her secrets longer than most of us. But she has one secret that I will reveal to you tonight in the greatest confidence. Sometimes there are no winners at all. And sometimes nobody needs to lose. |
| I don't think it is given to any of us to be impertinent to great religions with impunity. |
| Every writer knows he is spurious; every fiction writer would rather be credible than authentic. |
