Quotes by Absent Friends Absence blots people out. We really have no absent friends. Ambrose Bierce absent-friends absence people We have really no absent friends. Elizabeth Bowen absent-friends absent absence Friends, though absent, are still present. Marcus Tullius Cicero absent-friends absence friendship Absence doth sharpen love, presence strengthens it. Thomas Overbury absence-makes-the-heart-grow-fonder absent-friends absence