Absence makes the heart grow fonder
Meaning: Being apart makes you appreciate someone more.
Origin: The Roman poet Propertius wrote that love flows more strongly toward those who are absent, but the English wording was made popular by Thomas Haynes Bayly's 19th-century song "Isle of Beauty": "Absence makes the heart grow fonder, / Isle of Beauty, fare thee well!" The skeptics' reply, "out of sight, out of mind," is centuries older.
Equivalents in French, Spanish, and Japanese
- French: L'absence attise le feu (literally: Absence stirs the fire)
- Spanish: La ausencia aviva el cariño (literally: Absence enlivens affection)
- Japanese: 会えない時間が愛を育てる (Aenai jikan ga ai wo sodateru) (literally: Time apart nurtures love)
More proverbs about Human Nature
- There's no place like home — Home is where you feel most comfortable.
- You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink — You can offer help, but you can't force someone to accept it.
- Misery loves company — Unhappy people seek others who are also suffering.
- Out of sight, out of mind — We tend to forget things or people we don't see.
- A cat has nine lives — Cats (or resilient people) survive many dangerous situations.
- All's fair in love and war — Normal rules don't apply in romance or conflict.
From our untranslatable words
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- Ressourcement — The act of returning to one's roots or origins to find renewal — going back to a place, t…
- Pochemuchka — A person — usually a child — who asks an endless stream of questions, one 'why?' after an…