absence makes the heart grow fonder
( idiomatic ) One feels more love or affection for those one loves when parted from them.
When someone or something is far away, one realizes how much one loves or misses them or it
Arabic: please add this translation if you can
Armenian: please add this translation if you can
Catalan: lluny dels ulls, prop del cor
Chinese:
Mandarin: ( of a married couple ) 小別勝新婚 / 小别胜新婚 ( xiǎobié shèng xīnhūn ) , 相見 不如 懷念 / 相见 不如 怀念 ( xiāngjiàn bùrú huáiniàn )
Czech: please add this translation if you can
Dutch: afwezigheid versterkt de liefde
Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
Estonian: please add this translation if you can
Finnish: etäisyys lähentää
French: chose rarement vue est plus chère ; un peu d’absence fait grand bien , loin des yeux, près du cœur (fr)
Georgian: please add this translation if you can
German: ( semantically close, but rather rare ) dem Auge fern, dem Herzen nah ( literally “ far from the eye, close to the heart ” ) ; ( more common, but no exact match ) willst du gelten, mach dich selten ( literally “ if you want to be cherished, make yourself scarce ” )
Greek: only the opposite phrase exists
Hebrew: רחוק מהעין, קרוב אל הלב , המרחק מחזק את הרגשות , ההיעדרות מרככת את הלב
Hindi: please add this translation if you can
Icelandic: fjarlægðin gerir fjöllin blá
Indonesian: jauh di mata, dekat di hati ( literally “ far from the eye, close to the heart ” )
Irish: uireasa a mhéadaíonn cumha
Italian: la lontananza avvicina i cuori
Japanese: please add this translation if you can
Kannada: please add this translation if you can
Khmer: please add this translation if you can
Korean: please add this translation if you can
Macedonian: please add this translation if you can
Malay: duduk sekampung lagikan rindu, inikan pula jauh di mata , duduk sekampung lagikan rindu, inikan pula jauh di rantau , jauh di mata dekat di hati , jauh serasa hilang, bercerai serasa mati, jauh bau bunga, dekat bau tahi
Jawi: دودوق سکامڤوڠ لاݢيکن ريندو, اينکن ڤولا جاءوه دمات , دودوق سکامڤوڠ لاݢيکن ريندو, اينکن ڤولا جاءوه درنتاو , جاءوه دمات دکت دهاتي , جاءوه سراس هيلڠ, برچراي سراس ماتي, جاءوه باءو بوڠا, دکت باءو تاهي
Maltese: please add this translation if you can
Persian: دوری و دوستی
Polish: krótkie rozstania scalają związki ( lit. fast separations mend relationships )
Portuguese: longe dos olhos, perto do coração
Russian: от разлу́ки любо́вь горяче́й ( ot razlúki ljubóvʹ gorjačéj ) , разлу́ка для любви́, что ве́тер для искры́ — ма́ленькую зату́шит, а большу́ю сде́лает еще сильне́е ( razlúka dlja ljubví, što véter dlja iskrý — málenʹkuju zatúšit, a bolʹšúju sdélajet ješče silʹnéje )
Scottish Gaelic: please add this translation if you can
Serbo-Croatian: please add this translation if you can
Spanish: nadie sabe lo que tiene hasta que lo pierde , la ausencia hace crecer el cariño
Tagalog: please add this translation if you can
Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
Turkish: kel ölür, sırma saçlı olur, kör ölür badem gözlü olur
Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can
Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
Welsh: mwyna' byth y man ni bôm , man gwyn man draw
Zulu: please add this translation if you can
Gregory Y. Titelman, Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings , 1996, →ISBN , p. 1.