Familiarity breeds contempt

1. The better we know people, the more likely we are to find fault with them.

Idioms and Phrases

Long experience of someone or something can make one so aware of the faults as to be scornful. For example, Ten years at the same job and now he hates it—familiarity breeds contempt . The idea is much older, but the first recorded use of this expression was in Chaucer's Tale of Melibee (c. 1386).

Example Sentences

If familiarity breeds contempt, then overindulgence breeds snobbish connoisseurship.

From The Daily Beast

Second, if familiarity breeds contempt, anonymous familiarity seems to fuel it even more.

From The Daily Beast

The contempt which our metaphysicians show for matter, comes from the fact that "familiarity breeds contempt."

From Project Gutenberg

“No man is a hero to his valet,” and “familiarity breeds contempt,” are clear enough.

From Project Gutenberg

It is an old saying, and a trite one, that "Familiarity breeds contempt."

From Project Gutenberg

Here, as elsewhere, there are cynics who say that familiarity breeds contempt.

From Project Gutenberg

However, familiarity breeds contempt, and if left too long, some animal is almost sure to discover the ruse.

From Project Gutenberg