For decades to come the spy world will continue to be the collective couch where the subconscious of each nation is confessed.

If there is one eternal truth of politics, it is that there are always a dozen good reasons for doing nothing.

What else has a journalist to do these days, after all, but report life's miseries?

Those who are not with Mr. Bush are against him. Worse, they are with the enemy. Which is odd, because I'm dead against Bush, but I would love to see Saddam's downfall -- just not on Bush's terms and not by his methods. And not under the banner of such outrageous hypocrisy.

History keeps her secrets longer than most of us. But she has one secret that I will reveal to you tonight in the greatest confidence. Sometimes there are no winners at all. And sometimes nobody needs to lose.

The one thing you can bet is that spying is never over. Spying is like the wiring in this building: It's just a question of who takes it over and switches on the lights. It will go on and on and on.

But I think the real tension lies in the relationship between what you might call the pursuer and his quarry, whether it's the writer or the spy.