proverb · Words worth keeping
One grows used to love and to fire.
One grows used to love and to fire.
In print by 1857 AD · industrial
Recorded in a printed collection by this date; the original date of these words is still unknown.
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
Repeated closeness to love or fire can make an initially intense experience feel familiar. Familiarity may change attention without removing what matters.
What the words are saying
Love and fire join an emotional experience with a vivid physical one. Growing used to either suggests a change in how strongly it attracts notice. The metaphor can prompt someone to renew attention to a relationship or recognise that familiarity has lowered caution. It does not establish that every feeling fades or that fire becomes safe through exposure. Habit can alter perception while leaving responsibilities and hazards in place.
Everyday example
A team revisits a familiar routine because repeating it has made a missed check less noticeable.
When to use it
Use it when familiarity may be changing attention to something important.
What it does not mean
The image is not advice about approaching fire or proof that affection must diminish.
Agent-assisted editorial interpretation. This explains the words; it does not by itself verify their author or earliest origin.
Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Traditional (French-language collection)
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- In print by 1857 AD · industrial
In print by 1857: recorded in A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (1857). Collection publication is an upper bound for this wording, not its earliest origin, composition date or the author's lifetime.
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs (1857) (1857 AD)
Printed page 3; French section, paragraph 43; source wording: A l’amour et au feu on s’habitue.
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.