A dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

The LONGEST way round is the shortest way home
The idea is found earlier: 1580 LYLY Euphues & his England II. 96 Thou goest about (but yet the neerest way) to hang me vp for holy-dayes. (Go about is used here punningly to mean both ‘endeavour’ and ‘go around or roundabout’. The context is of a person metaphorically described as a hat which can be taken up and put down at will.)

• 
  1635 F. QUARLES Emblems IV. ii. The road to resolution lies by doubt: The next way home’s the farthest way about. 1776 G. COLMAN Spleen II. 24 The longest way about is the shortest way home. 1846 J. K. PAULDING Letter 9 May (1962) vii. The Potatoes arrived . . via New York . . in pursuance of the Old Proverb, that ‘the longest way round is the shortest way home.’ 1942 K. ABBEY And let Coffin Pass xviii. ‘The longest way round is the shortest way home.’ . . ‘We’ll make the best time by skirting the pines.’ 1990 F. LYALL Croaking of Raven vi. 2. 64 ‘.. when I was training my old boss used to say: “If in doubt take the long road round. It’ll prove to be the shortest in the end.”’ ^patience and impatience; ways and means
  

longest see also (adjective) BARNABY bright, Barnaby bright, the longest day and the shortest night; (adverb) a CREAKING door hangs longest; he who LAUGHS last, laughs longest; they that LIVE longest, see most.
LOOK before you leap

• 
  c 1350 Douce MS 52 no. 150 First loke and aftirward lepe. 1528 W. TYNDALE Obedience of Christian Man 130 We say.. Loke yer thou lepe, whose literall sence is, doo nothinge sodenly or without avisement. 1567 W. PAINTER Palace of Pleasure II. xxiv. He that looketh not before he leapeth, may chaunce to stumble before he sleapeth. 1621 BURTON Anatomy of Melancholy II. iii. Looke before you leape. 1836 MARRYAT Midshipman Easy I. vi. Look before you leap is an old proverb. .. Jack.. had pitched into a small apiary, and had upset two hives of bees. 1941 C. MACKENZIE Red Tapeworm i. Do you remember the rousing slogan which the Prime Minister gave the voters.. on the eve of the last General Election?.. Look Before You Leap. 1979 D. MAY Revenger’s Comedy ix. Changing horses, love? I should look before you leap. "caution
  

look see also a CAT may look at a king; the DEVIL looks after his own; DOGS look up to you, cats look down on you, pigs is equal; never look a GIFT horse in the mouth; when all you have is a HAMMER, everything looks like a nail; a MAN is as old as he feels, and a woman as old as she looks; take care of the PENCE and the pounds will take care of themselves; those who PLAY at bowls must look out for rubbers; one man may STEAL a horse, while another may not look over a hedge.