[Smiley can appreciate Niko's views, really. Possibly all too well. When the waitress brings his tea, he nods and accepts it with a quiet murmur of thanks, not interrupting Niko.]

The more one sees of the world, the more one realises no matter what any idealist may make of their own side, it is worth no more or less than the other ostensible side.

[Don't you think it's time to recognise that there is as little worth on your side as there is on mine? Look, in our trade we have only negative vision. In that sense, neither of us has anywhere to go. Smiley looks up at Niko and for a moment sees a flash of another, older man, far away in a sweltering little room in Delhi. He turns his head slightly, lowers his gaze, as if ashamed.]