The first requirement of politics is not intellect or stamina but patience. Politics is a very long run game and the tortoise will usually beat the hare.
There is only one home to the life of a river-mussel there is only one home to the life of a tortoise there is only one shell to the soul of man: there is only one world to the spirit of our race. If that world leaves its course and smashes on boulders of the great void whose world will give us shelter?
Espionage for the most part involves finding a person who knows something or has something that you can induce them secretly to give to you. That almost always involves a betrayal of trust.