This article analyzes the intersection of sentimental codes of friendship and pedagogical theory in Russia and France in the second half of the eighteenth century, concentrating on a single group, Aleksandr Stroganov, Pavel Stroganov, and Gilbert Romme. Reading their correspondence in tandem with treatises on friendship and education, the article investigates how such key concepts as equality and virtue were understood at their time. It further explores how they negotiated differences in status and age in constructing what they called a friendship.