“Surround yourself with human beings, my dear James. They are easier to fight for than principles.”

“Mine’s Bond – James Bond.”

“What's your name?""Bond. James Bond. What's yours?"She reflected "Rider.""What Rider?""Honeychile."Bond smiled.”

“Today we are fighting Communism. Okay. If I'd been alive fifty years ago, the brand of Conservatism we have today would have been damn near called Communism and we should have been told to go and fight that. History is moving pretty quickly these days and the heroes and villains keep on changing parts.”

“And then one day when you're playing your little game you'll suddenly find yourself pinned down like a butterfly.”

“Ian FlemingThe CBC Interview, 1953He doesn’t use Anglo-Saxon four-letter words, “I don’t like seeing them on the page.”When asked why his novels are so popular in light of the dirtiness of the trade (of espionage), Fleming said, “The books have pace and plenty of action. And espionage is not regarded by the majority of the public as a dirty trade. They regard it as a rather sort of ah, ah very romantic affair… Spying has always been regarded as (a) very romantic one-man job, so-to-speak. A one man against a whole police force or an army.”Regarding heroes of his time, Fleming said, “I think that although they may have feet of clay, ah, we probably all have, and all human beings have, there’s no point in dwelling entirely on the feet. There are many other parts of the animal to be examined. And I think people like to read about heroes.”BBC Interview on Desert Island DiscsQuestion: Had the character of James Bond been growing in your mind for a long time?Ian Fleming’s response: “No, I can’t say I had, really. He sort of, ah, developed when I was just on the edge of getting married, after having been a bachelor for so long, and I really wanted to take my mind off the agony. And so I decided to sit down and write a book.”Question: How much long do you think you can keep Bond going?Ian Fleming’s response: “Well, I don’t know. It depends on how much I, how much more I can go on following his adventures.”Question: You don’t feel he’s keeping you from more serious writing?Ian Fleming’s response: “No. I’m not in the Shakespeare stakes. I’ve got no ambitions.”

“It reads better than it lives”