​Although there are no “exact” rules of friendship, there are some guidelines that can help create more enriching, productive, and long-lasting friendships. Many people treat friendships as if they were somehow less valuable than family or romantic relationships, but actually all friendships have the same capacity to enrich our lives and increase our general happiness.

The rules of friendship are important to being happy whether you seeking a romantic partner or not, and you will be more successful in creating a quality relationship with anyone in your life if you can approach making friends from a position of independence and happiness of your own to start with.

When you consider that friendships do not have the advantage of pre-existing family or legal ties to support them, it becomes clear that a true friendship can have certain qualities that other types  of your relationships do not. Real friendships are unique when compared to family, spousal, and romantic relationships in several ways.
Although friendships can last beyond the lifespan of your family members and spouses, they can also be ended quickly without any further responsibilities. Real friendships are not created by legal, social, or monetary obligations, and instead are usually held together only by mutual interests, shared values, respect, and love.

The Rules of Friendship:

•    Friends should be loyal in both good times and bad.

•    Friends respect the person and not the position or title.

•    Friends keep their word and do what they say they will do.

•    Friends do not talk bad about their friends.

•    Friends should be honest and not critical.

•    Friends will consider your point-of-view before trying to get you to
see theirs.

•    Friends offer help without expecting anything in return.

•    Friends do not encourage you to violate your morals and principles.

•    Friends tell their own friends how much they value their friendship.