I will never again command an army in America if we must carry along paid spies. I will banish myself to some foreign country first.

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

Nothing is hidden from the eyes of the observing world.

Guard more faithfully the secret which is confided to you than the money which is entrusted to your care.

There is a sickness among tyrants: they cannot trust their friends.

If the world were good for nothing else, it is a fine subject for speculation.

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

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

Once suspicion is aroused, everything feeds it.

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.

Secrets are rarely betrayed or discovered according to any program our fear has sketched out.

Secrecy lies at the very core of power.

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