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Quotes

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

—David Sedaris, 2004

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

—Aeschylus, c. 458 BC

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

—Isocrates, c. 370 BC

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

—Oscar Wilde, 1895

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

—George Herbert, c. 1621

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

—Petronius, c. 60

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

—P.D. James, 1992

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

—Francis Bacon, 1625

Secrecy lies at the very core of power.

—Elias Canetti, 1960
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