OBREGON

Good friends are reassuring. They don't just flatter - they understand how easily we lose perspective, panic and underestimate our own abilities.

Sometimes, they get us to laugh at ourselves when we would be inclined to indulge in self-pity or rage.

Adults use the fallacy more subtly.

"If you don't support the spending bill to develop better airplanes, our enemies will think we are weak and will attack us at some point, killing millions." The person offering this argument is using psychological pressure to get agreement. Ther...

• Keep friends for friendship, but work with the skilled and competent.
• As Lincoln said, you destroy an enemy when you make a friend of him.
• Without enemies around us, we grow lazy.
• Nothing is stable in the realm of power, and even the closest of friends can be transfor...