"I am a writer, and as a writer, I am a chronicler of my times."

"I have a certain reputation for being difficult. I prefer to think of it as being uncompromising."

"Dictators are like vampires—they drain the lifeblood of a nation."

"The world is too complex, too interconnected, for any nation to imagine it can isolate itself and remain unaffected."

"I have always believed that the human being is a political animal."