Absence cools moderate passions, and inflames violent ones.
Meaning: Distance fades mild affections but makes intense ones burn all the hotter.
Origin: Recorded in A Dictionary of English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases, an undated collection published in London by Whittaker & Co. around 1880 and credited to Thomas Preston. Its earlier history hasn't been traced.
More proverbs about Wisdom
- The absent are always at fault. — Those not present to defend themselves get the blame.
- Give neither advice nor salt until you are asked for it. — Offer advice only when it's asked for; unsolicited counsel is rarely welcome.
- What every one asks, what every one gives, but what very few take--advice. — Everyone seeks and gives advice, yet almost no one actually follows it.
- Two of a trade seldom agree. — Rivals in the same business rarely agree; competition breeds friction between them.
- Agues come on horseback, but go away on foot. — Sickness arrives suddenly but lingers, leaving far more slowly than it came.
- None knows the weight of another's burden. — No one can truly feel how heavy another person's troubles are.
From our compliments & insults
- Avoir un poil dans la main — To be incurably lazy.
- Tête de linotte — A scatterbrain who can't hold a thought.
- Courir sur le haricot — To get badly on someone's nerves.