A friend is a present you give yourself.

The line frames friendship not as something passively received but as an active, self-directed choice—something you “give yourself” by opening your life to another person. It suggests that the benefits of friendship (companionship, counsel, joy, moral support) are gifts you secure through your own generosity, trust, and willingness to invest. The aphorism also subtly reverses the usual economy of giving: by offering time and affection to someone else, you enrich your own inner life. In that sense, friendship becomes a form of self-care grounded in mutuality rather than self-indulgence.