A friendship that makes the least noise is very often the most useful; for which reason I should prefer a prudent friend to a zealous one.

The friend who declares the most is rarely the one who turns up. Loud loyalty is enjoyable and unreliable, since it runs on feeling and feeling moves on, while a steady, careful friend does the useful thing quietly and is still there a year later. Enthusiasm makes a better evening and worse help. What you want in trouble is judgment rather than volume.

Think about who has actually been present in your hard stretches, and whether you have been treating them as your closest people. Give some of your time this month to the quiet ones rather than the vivid ones.