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If you seek friends for what you can gain, you've got an agenda. You're saying you wouldn't enter into a relationship where you wouldn't get anything in return? Wouldn't that equate to a return on your investment?
This is not to suggest that if you befriend someone and find they're a complete drain of energy, you shouldn't back out. But when I've bowed out of friendships, I never looked at it as though I was waiting for a return on my investment (time, caring, etc.).
Giving will occur naturally on all sides of a healthy relationship. You do get what you give. On the other hand, if it's not healthy, it should end. Expectations creeping into a relationship can often destroy it. We need to expect more of ourselves, not of others.
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We are always more anxious to be distinguished for a talent which we do not possess, than to be praised for the fifteen which we do possess.
Mark Twain
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