Absence makes the heart grow fonder

Cf. [Propertius Elegies ii. xxxiii^b. i. 43] semper in absentes felicior aestus amantes, passion [is] always warmer towards absent lovers.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
[c 1850 in T. H. Bayly Isle of Beauty (rev. ed.) iii.]

These saws are constantly cutting one another's throats. How can you reconcile the statement that ‘Absence makes the heart grow fonder’ with ‘Out of sight, out of mind’?
[1923 Observer 11 Feb. 9]

Absence may have made his heart grow fonder, but it hasn't done wonders for mine.
[1992 A. Lambert Rather English Marriage (1993) xi. 178]

In this way you can keep her at bay indefinitely, or at least until such time as her absence has made your heart grow fonder.
[2002 Spectator 9 Feb. 63]

Related to: absence; love

Bibliography of major proverb collections and works cited from modern editions is available here.

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Separation intensifies love, as in After a year in another country she accepted his proposal, so I guess absence makes the heart grow fonder, or, used ironically, The boss leaves earlier every day; oh well, absence makes the heart grow fonder. Although versions of this saying date from Roman times, it only became popular after Thomas Haynes Bayly used it as the last line of a song in The Isle of Beauty (1850). The opposite sentiment is expressed by familiarity breeds contempt.