familiarity breeds contempt

familiarity breeds contempt

1. The more an individual becomes acquainted with another person, and the more the individual knows about his or her shortcomings, the easier it becomes to eventually 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.