A friend is one of the nicest things you can have, and one of the best things you can be.

The line balances friendship as a gift (“one of the nicest things you can have”) with friendship as a moral practice (“one of the best things you can be”). It suggests that the value of friendship is not only in receiving companionship, support, and joy, but also in cultivating the virtues that make one worthy of trust—loyalty, attentiveness, generosity, and steadiness. By shifting from possession to identity, the quote reframes friendship as an ethical role rather than a social accessory: the highest benefit of friendship may be the kind of person it calls you to become.