Ask not what the peace process can do for you, but what you can do for the peace process. Whatever the rights and wrongs of their respective positions, nobody could dispute the commitment of the parties and governments to the negotiations taking place at Castle Buildings.
Blair, Ahern, Trimble, Adams - these were clearly men of steel.
Reporters flagging after three straight days in the media village wondered at the stamina of the politicians. What were these people taking and could we have some of it, please? "Red Bull," quipped one insider. Observers conceded Tony Blair looked as if he was having a Bad Hair Day.
Perhaps what kept them going was that they had some idea what was going on whereas the journalists had to be content with speculation, rumour, spin and counter spin.
Gen de Chastelain's report, expected by 1 p.m., was again delayed. Besides, Dame Rumour said, it might be only his inaugural report, with another one to come "when the IRA decommissioned".
But republicans continued to deny that decommissioning was a runner. More interestingly, even a senior unionist said flatly: "There might be some hope of Sinn Fein saying the war is over, but there's nothing to indicate decommissioning will happen by May 2000."
But the swirl of rumour and counter-rumour about decommissioning was said to be having an unsettling effect on the republican movement and making life difficult for their negotiators.
The disposal of weapons might not be about to happen - indeed might never happen - but the issue had to be addressed. A form of words, an undertaking from republicans which would ensure that David Trimble did not have to face his party empty-handed; this was one of the focus points in negotiation.
Last Friday, the two prime ministers had succeeded in pruning all excess verbiage from the republican party's stance on weapons, leaving only the bald declaration that, along with the other parties, Sinn Fein was committed in principle to the decommissioning of all paramilitary arms by May 2000.
The next step was to harden this up to a point where unionists could have grounds for confidence that this principle would be translated into practice.
There was room for creative diplomacy here because Sinn Fein had never ruled out the possibility of decommissioning as part of the full implementation of the Belfast Agreement. There were indications late on Tuesday night that this commitment to theoretical decommissioning might even extend to a notional calendar.
Some journalists were calling it "shadow decommissioning". Sinn Fein was certainly winning brownie points with the two governments but the sceptics wanted to read the small print.
As the evening wore on, Mr Blair's spokesman came out to tell reporters about the huge amount of time the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach were putting into the talks. "There certainly can be a deal by midnight," he said. "If he didn't think he could do a deal he wouldn't stay here."
But the spokesman everyone wanted to hear was not Mr Alastair Campbell but shy, retiring "P. O'Neill", the secretive signatory of IRA statements. He could perhaps play the role of deus ex machina, making the critical intervention that would clinch the deal. Undoubtedly, the two governments would have liked to hear him soften his hardline stance on decommissioning but the hours passed by and still nothing was heard from that quarter.
If you heard it from P. O'Neill you were hearing it from the horse's mouth. In the absence of such a development, Dublin was said to be "working on" Sinn Fein for a statement along such lines as, "We believe we can successfully persuade the IRA to play its part in removing the guns from Irish politics."
In the absence of the de Chastelain text, the discussions remained hypothetical, e.g., "If Sinn Fein said that, how would you respond?" The blue was turning to grey and still the General had not spoken. When he did, there would probably be a need to compose a separate text embracing all the issues, as the decommissioning body could hardly lay down a timetable for establishing the executive, devolution of powers, and the like.
Word came through that President Clinton was calling the prime minister, and presumably everyone else. As he said on the hustings, he still believed in a place called Hope - but did he believe in Castle Buildings? Mr Blair and Mr Trimble were due to attend the formal opening of the Scottish parliament in Edinburgh this morning, but if there was a chance of a deal they would doubtless stay behind.
The unionist mood was pessimistic. "We had a meeting with the Irish Government and made it clear that sitting in a devolved executive without guns was not acceptable." A great deal depended on John Taylor. The Strangford showman's words contained little space for compromise but if he saw an opening he would go for it, observers said.
An academic unionist said Sinn Fein's language would get a D instead of an F from examiners but it was "still not fit for unionist consumption". There was talk of extending the "absolute" deadline, but other reports said that tough negotiations were still taking place. The missing ingredient had yet to be found.
Dana was visiting Drumcree and the Garvaghy Road: perhaps she should come to Castle Buildings?