Authors:

Deference often shrinks and withers as much upon the approach of intimacy as the sensitive plant does upon the touch of one's finger.

William Shenstone (1764). “The Works in Verse and Prose, of William Shenstone, Esq;: Essays on men, manners, and things. A description of The Leasowes, the seat of the late William Shenstone, Esq. Verses to Mr. Shenstone”, p.207
Deference often shrinks and withers as much upon the approach of intimacy as the sensitive plant does upon the touch of one's finger.