Robert Littell

The poetry of Walt Whitman. I can return again and again to these magnificent poems and still get pleasure from reading them.

I am an amateur mountain climber. Once or twice a year I go off to Chamonix in the French Alps, under Mont Blanc, and with a guide do treks that include rock climbing at high altitude.

When people ask me if I have worked for the C.I.A., I often answer: what good to you is my answer? Because if I did, I might not say so.

Fame is an odd thing. It bugs you a little bit, but it's really not bad.

I'm quite content to spend my life helping young people find themselves. I've had my fill of politics.

Another thing that freaks me out is time. Time is like a book. You have a beginning, a middle and an end. It's just a cycle.