Absence Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old absence quotes, absence sayings, and absence proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

The absent are never without fault. Nor the present without excuse. Benjamin Franklin
The absence of happiness doesn't mean unhappiness. Praveen Sighal
Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Thomas Haynes Bayly
Absence of proof is not proof of absence. William Cowper
Absence and death are the same – only that in death there is no suffering. Theodore Roosevelt
Absence blots people out. We really have no absent friends. Ambrose Bierce
Absence - that common cure of love. Lord Byron
But the absence of tears wasn't the same as an absence of feeling. Lisa Kleypas
The absent are never without fault, nor the present without excuse. Benjamin Franklin
Absence is a house so vast that inside you will pass through its walls and hang pictures on the air. Pablo Neruda
The longest absence is less perilous to love than the terrible trials of incessant proximity. Ouida
When a man is out of sight, it is not too long before he is out of mind. Thomas a Kempis
Most of what matters in your life takes place in your absence. Salman Rushdie
The absence of alternatives clears the mind marvelously. Henry A. Kissinger
Absence from whom we love is worse than death. William Cowper
Absence diminishes small loves and increases great ones, as the wind blows out the candle and blows up the bonfire. Francois de la Rouchefoucauld
Absence is to love what wind is to fire; it extinguishes the small, it enkindles the great. Roger de Rabutin
Absence diminishes little passions and increases great ones, as wind extinguishes candles and fans a fire. Francois de la Rochefoucauld
It's so much darker when a light goes out than it would have been if it had never shone. John Steinbeck
Absence is to love what wind is to fire; it extinguishes the small, it inflames the great. Roger de Rabutin de Bussy
Don't struggle to make your presence noticed. Just make your absence felt. Tinku Razoria
The absence of old friends one can endure with equanimity. But even a momentary separation from anyone to whom one has just been introduced is almost unbearable. Oscar Wilde
There is a time in life when you expect the world to be always full of new things. And then comes a day when you realise that is not how it will be at all. You see that life will become a thing made of holes. Absences. Losses. Things that were there and are no longer. And you realise, too, that you have to grow around and between the gaps, [...] Helen Macdonald
In the absence of any other proof, the thumb alone would convince me of God's existence. Isaac Newton
Absence sharpens love, presence strengthens it. Benjamin Franklin
In the absence of willpower the most complete collection of virtues and talents is wholly worthless. Aleister Crowley
You can decorate absence however you want- but your still gonna feel what's missing. Siobhan Vivian
Absence doth sharpen love, presence strengthens it; the one brings fuel, the other blows it till it burns clear. William Shakespeare
Absence and death are the same - only that in death there is no suffering. Theodore Roosevelt
A short absence is the safest. Ovid
Like a missing tooth, sometimes an absence is more noticeable than a presence. Jodi Picoult
If someone doesn't appreciate your presence, make them appreciate your absence. Anonymous
Greater things are believed of those who are absent. Tacitus
Nothing reopens the springs of love so fully as absence, and no absence so thoroughly as that which must needs be endless. Anthony Trollope
Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Carl Sagan
Never find fault with the absent. Alexander Pope
We think we have discovered a grotto that is stored with bewildering treasure; we come to the light of day, and the gems we have brought are false--mere pieces of glass--and yet does the treasure shine on, unceasingly, in the darkness. Maurice Maeterlinck
Give the gift of your absence to those who don't appreciate your presence. Richard Shivers
If your absence doesn't affect them, your presence never mattered. Chele Iam
One of the best feelings in the world is knowing your presence and absence both mean something to someone. Marc Chernoff
The strongest presence is so often an absence. Life here underscores this point almost daily. Steve Rasnic Tem
The absence of words is the absence of intimacy. There are experiences that are starved for language. Ludwig Wittgenstein
When your absence is felt, your presence is the essence and it makes a difference. Michael Bassey Johnson
Absence and death are the same - only that in death there is no suffering. Walter S Landor
The truth is that every sheet of blank paper by its very emptiness affirms that nothing is as beautiful as what does not exist. Paul Valery
Sometimes the experience of emptiness is linked no to negative negative things about the person but to the absence of positive things. Peter Cooper
A day away from some people is like a month in the country. Howard Dietz
This is neither nor there nor elsewhere. Damon Runyon
Absence makes the hear grow fonder, but presents brings better results. Evan Esar
When a man doesn't go straight home, his wife's remarks do. Evan Esar
Habits are hard to change; many a man whose wife is away hates to go home just the same. Evan Esar
To some people freedom of religion merely means a choice of churches to stay away from. Evan Esar
There are some people who are always in the conversation when they are not there. Evan Esar
The word young refers not just to age but also to the absence of awareness. Malidone Some
The beginning of love is a horror of emptiness. Robert Bly
Illusion is needed to disguise the emptiness within. Arthur Erickson
Our greatest pretenses are built up not to hide evil and the ugly in us, but our emptiness. Steven Mason
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear. Mark Twain
I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear. Nelson Mandela
Bravery has never been about the absence of fear, it is going forward and facing your fear even though you are scared half to death and every fiber of your being is screaming at you to run away and hide. Joe Nickaloff
The absence of bad news has replaced it and we have all lowered our standards to accept no bad news as the new good news. Joe Nickaloff