Absence blots people out. We really have no absent friends.
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973) Irish Novelist, Short-story Writer
I love luxury. And luxury lies not in richness and ornateness but in the absence of vulgarity. Vulgarity is the ugliest word in our language. I stay in the game to fight it.
—Coco Chanel (1883–1971) French Fashion Designer
How like a winter hath my absence been. From thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year! What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen, What old December’s bareness everywhere!
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Discouragement is not the absence of adequacy but the absence of courage.
—Neal A. Maxwell (1926–2004) American Religious Leader, Author
A little absence does a lot of good.
—French Proverb
Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
—Common Proverb
Achilles absent was Achilles still!
—Homer (751–651 BCE) Ancient Greek Poet
God is absence. God is the solitude of man.
—Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–80) French Philosopher, Playwright, Novelist, Activist
Friendship, like love, is destroyed by long absence, though it may be increased by short intermissions.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
In the absence of justice, what is sovereignty but organized robbery?
—Augustine of Hippo (354–430) Roman-African Christian Philosopher
Grace is the absence of everything that indicates pain or difficulty, hesitation or incongruity.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
Our hours in love have wings; in absence, crutches.
—Colley Cibber (1671–1757) English Playwright, Poet, Actor
Parting is such sweet sorrow.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Love reckons hours for months, and days for years; and every little absence is an age.
—John Dryden (1631–1700) English Poet, Literary Critic, Playwright
The absent are like children, helpless to defend themselves.
—Charles Reade (1814–84) English Novelist, Playwright
Absence, like death, sets a seal on the image of those we love: we cannot realize the intervening changes which time may have effected.
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730–74) Irish Novelist, Playwright, Poet
As the presence of those we love is as a double life, so absence, in its anxious longing and sense of vacancy, is as a foretaste of death.
—Anna Brownell Jameson (1794–1860) Irish-born Literary, Art Critic
Sometimes, when one person is missing, the whole world seems depopulated.
—Alphonse de Lamartine (1790–1869) French Poet, Politician, Historian
Absence in love is like water upon fire; a little quickens, but much extinguishes it.
—Hannah More
Absence of proof is not proof of absence.
—Anonymous
Greater things are believed of those who are absent.
—Tacitus (56–117) Roman Orator, Historian
Salt water and absence wash away love.
—Common Proverb
Absences are a good influence in love and keep it bright and delicate.
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94) Scottish Novelist
When a man is out of sight, it is not too long before he is out of mind.
—Thomas a Kempis (1379–1471) German Religious Priest, Writer
Where choice begins, Paradise ends, innocence ends, for what is Paradise but the absence of any need to choose this action?
—Arthur Miller (1915–2005) American Playwright, Essayist
Sometimes I need what only you can provide—your absence.
—Ashleigh Brilliant (1933–2025) American Epigrammatist, Author, Cartoonist
Absence from whom we love is worse than death, and frustrates hope severer than despair.
—William Cowper (1731–1800) English Anglican Poet, Hymn writer
Failing to be there when a man wants her is a woman’s greatest sin, except to be there when he doesn’t want her.
—Helen Rowland (1875–1950) American Journalist, Humorist
Distance of time and place generally cure what they seem to aggravate; and taking leave of our friends resembles taking leave of the world, of which it has been said, that it is not death, but dying, which is terrible.
—Henry Fielding (1707–54) English Novelist, Dramatist
Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice.
—Baruch Spinoza (1632–77) Dutch Philosopher, Theologian
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