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Citation Information
How to Cite
Hendrickson, Robert. "absence makes the heart grow fonder; out of sight, out of mind." Writer's Reference Center. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 18 Apr. 2025. <http://fofweb.infobase.com/wrc/Detail.aspx?iPin=EWPO00042>.
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absence makes the heart grow fonder; out of sight, out of mind

Definition 
Whether you believe the first proverb or the contradictory saying out of sight, out of mind, the phrase does not come from the poem "Isle of Beauty" by Thomas Haynes Bayly (1797–1839), as Dr. Brewer, Bartlett, and other sources say. Bayly did write "Absence makes the heart grow fonder,/Isle of Beauty, Fare thee well!," but the same phrase was recorded in Francis Davison's "Poetical Rapsody" in 1602. Out of sight, out of mind comes from the poem "That Out of Sight" by Arthur Hugh Clough (1819–61):

That out of sight is out of mind
Is true of most we leave behind.

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