Francisco Chagas Nov 17, 2019:

Additional context needed (see below) "Friendship is [like / akin to] opening a can of worms."

After some research, I may say that I have no issue in agreeing with and expanding upon Ana Vozone's take on this matter, as seen above.
I opted to instill a colloquial tone to the expression while maintaining some of the (perhaps unintended) ambiguity.

Lincoln, I would advise you to sift through the following links:

[http://www.bahianapolitica.com.br/noticias/75946/targino-mac...
https://www.camara.leg.br/internet/sitaqweb/discursoDiretoCM...]

Verginia Ophof Nov 17, 2019:

agree with Ana Vozone. my thoughts are that it has to do with feeling beholden to a friend and not in full control of one's life. An emotionally controlling relationship. "Don't let your loyalty (to friends) become slavery"

Ana Vozone Nov 17, 2019:

Thanks, Mark :) I researched some more, most hits of "friendship with strings attached" are of a religious nature. I found this sentence: I am leery of the term “friendship evangelism,” which Pathickal uses, because it seems to me to be *****friendship with an agenda****, or friendship with strings attached, or friendship that treats people as projects.

so maybe who is a native english speaker can come up with some "concoction" involving "strings attached" or "agenda", or "tangles" even :)

Mark Robertson Nov 17, 2019:

@Ana Good idea. In friendships you can get tangled up in the strings attached.

Mark Robertson Nov 17, 2019:

The full quote for Gilmar's answer is:

“So long as we love we serve; so long as we are loved by others, I would almost say that we are indispensable; and no man is useless while he has a friend.”

Robert Louis Stevenson, Lay Morals, written in 1890s.
It might be loosely borrowed from Dickens.

Cristina Mantovani Nov 16, 2019:

Algo do tipo “You can’t say no to a friend”? Mas eu realmente não consigo pensar em algum provérbio que expresse isso:(

Verginia Ophof Nov 16, 2019:

would it be something like ? Some friends are like pennies, two faced and worthless

Ana Vozone Nov 16, 2019:

@Mark Thank you for the explanation!

Perhaps something saying that some types of friendship do come with (unpleasant) strings attached...

Mark Robertson Nov 16, 2019:

The meaning of the proverb is that he/she who has a friend has found himself/herself a master, in the sense that the friend will always be asking for help and the befriender will not know how to refuse.

So it is the negative aspect of friendship that is focused.

In Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens, Mr Roskesmith says: "No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it for anyone else.", which refers to the same situation but not to its negative aspects.

Ana Vozone Nov 16, 2019:

Mas aqui tem o sentido contrário, certo? Não se trata de amizade que une, certo? Qual o sentido exato que é dado à expressão?