people not related to him.

 

One very practical consequence of Liking/ Loving Tendency is that it acts as a

conditioning device that makes the liker or lover tend (1) to ignore faults of,

and comply with wishes of, the object of his affection, (2) to favor people,

products, and actions merely associated with the object of his affection (as we

shall see when we get to “Influence-from-Mere-Association Tendency,” and (3) to

distort other facts to facilitate love.

 

The phenomenon of liking and loving causing admiration also works in reverse.

Admiration also causes or intensifies liking or love. With this “feedback mode”

in place, the consequences are often extreme, sometimes even causing deliberate

self-destruction to help what is loved.

 

Liking or loving, intertwined with admiration in a feedback mode, often has vast

practical consequences in areas far removed from sexual attachments. For

instance, a man who is so constructed that he loves admirable persons and ideas

with a special intensity has a huge advantage in life. This blessing came to

both Buffett and myself in large measure, sometimes from the same persons and

ideas. One common, beneficial example for us both was Warren’s uncle, Fred

Buffett, who cheerfully did the endless grocery-store work that Warren and I

ended up admiring from a safe distance. Even now, after I have known so many

other people, I doubt if it is possible to be a nicer man than Fred Buffett was,

and he changed me for the better.