Robert Littell

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.

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

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.

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.

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