familiarity breeds contempt

familiarity breeds contempt

1. The more acquainted one becomes with a person, the more one knows about his or her shortcomings and, hence, the easier it becomes to dislike that person.

   Synonyms: a prophet has no honor in his own country, a prophet is not without honor save in his own country, (colloquial) the more one learns about people, the more one likes one's pet

   • 1673, Richard Baxter, chapter X, in A Christian Directory, part II:

     “[S]uffer [your children] not to carry themselves unreverently or contemptuously towards you [parents]; but to keep their distance. For too much familiarity breedeth contempt, and imboldeneth to disobedience.”

   • 1822, William Hazlitt, chapter 1, in Table-Talk:

     “For a person to read his own works over with any great delight, he ought first to forget that he ever wrote them. Familiarity naturally breeds contempt.”

   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

     [F]or Ayesha was certainly an exception to the rule. Familiarity with her might and did breed passion and wonder and horror, but it certainly did not breed contempt.

   • 1894, H. Rider Haggard, chapter 25, in The People Of The Mist:

     This was the beginning of evil, for if no man is a hero to his valet de chambre, much less can he remain a god for long in the eyes of a curious woman. Here, as in other matters, familiarity breeds contempt.