Absence of proof is not proof of absence. – William Cowper
Candid and generous and just. Boys care but little whom they trust. An error soon corrected — for who but learns in riper years. That man, when smoothest he appears, is most to be suspected? – William Cowper
Absence of occupation is not rest; A mind quite vacant is a mind distressed. – William Cowper
The heart may think it knows better: the senses know that absence blots people out. We really have no absent friends. The friend becomes a traitor by breaking, however unwillingly or sadly, out of our own zone: a hard judgment is passed on him, for all the pleas of the heart. – Elizabeth Bowen