Archive

Quotes

There is nothing makes a man suspect much, more than to know little.

—Francis Bacon, 1625

Secrets define us, they mark us, they set us apart from all the others. The secrets which we preserve provide a key to who we are, deep down.

—Nuruddin Farah, 1998

A regime which combines perpetual surveillance with total indulgence is hardly conducive to healthy development.

—P.D. James, 1992

Secrecy lies at the very core of power.

—Elias Canetti, 1960

The first duty of a good inquisitor is to suspect especially those who seem sincere to him.

—Umberto Eco, 1980

We must not always talk in the marketplace of what happens to us in the forest.

—Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1850

Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.

—Benjamin Franklin, 1735

For sooner will men hold fire in their mouths than keep a secret.

—Petronius, c. 60

The life of spies is to know, not be known.

—George Herbert, c. 1621

Spies are of no use nowadays. Their profession is over. The newspapers do their work instead.

—Oscar Wilde, 1895

To know all is not to forgive all. It is to despise everybody.

—Quentin Crisp, 1968

If you read somebody’s diary, you get what you deserve.

—David Sedaris, 2004

Even a paranoid can have enemies.

—Henry Kissinger, 1977