OUT of sight, out of mind
1250
Proverbs of Alfred
(1907) 46
He that is ute bi-loken [shut out] He is inne sone foryeten [forgotten].
c
1450
tr.
T. à Kempis' De Imitatione Christi
(EETS)
I
. xxxiii.
Whan Man is oute of sight, son be he passith oute of mynde.
1545
tr.
Erasmus' Adages
(ed. 2) D6
V
Whereunto also agreethe oure Englyshe proverbe which sayethe: Oute of syght, oute of mynde.
1797
Italian
III. ix.
Old women now-a-days are not much thought of; out of sight out of mind with them.
1863
Water Babies
i.
Sir John and the rest saw no more of her; and out of sight was out of mind.
1979
This Fatal Writ
45
The brief .. was promptly concealed… He was working on the principle ‘out of sight, out of mind.’
1998
Times
20 Jan. 37
Simply because she now lives in the States, Musgrave is out of sight, out of mind. Oh, the waste of talent…
absence
;
forgetfulness