A dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

odious see COMPARISONS are odious.
It is best to be OFF with the old love before you are on with the new

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  1801 M. EDGEWORTH Belinda I. x. I can give you my advice gratis, in the formula of an old Scotch song. ..‘’Tis good to be off with the old love, Before you be on with the new.’ 1819 SCOTT Bride of Lammermoor III. ii. It is best to be off wi’ the old love Before you be on wi’ the new. 1891 A. LANG Essays in Little 6 Dumas.. met the great man at Marseilles, where. .Alexandre chanced to be ‘on with the new love’ before being completely ‘off with the old’. 1923 E. V. LUCAS Advisory Ben xxxix. That proverb about being off with the old love is a very sound one. 1980 I. ST. JAMES Money Stones III. vi. Off with the old and on with the new. Why not just come out with it? Tell her it’s all finished. ■ constancy and inconstancy; love
  

OFFENDERS never pardon

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  1640 G. HERBERT Outlandish Proverbs no. 561 The offender never pardons. 1672 DRYDEN Conquest of Granada II. I. ii. Forgiveness to the Injur’d does belong; But they ne’r pardon who have done the wrong. 1876 I. BANKS Manchester Man III. xiii. He was of Mrs. Ashton’s mind, that, ‘as offenders never pardon’, Augusta needed a friend. ■ forgiveness; wrong-doers
  

offense see ATTACK is the best form of defence; the best DEFENSE is a good offense.
OLD habits die hard

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  1758 B. FRANKLIN in London Chronicle 26-28 Dec. 632 I hear the reader say, Habits are hard to break, and those.. accustomed to idleness or extravagance do not easily change their manners. 1792 J. BELKNAP Foresters ix. Old habits are not easily broken, and.. they endeavoured.. to transfer the blame from him to his wife. 1944 ‘H. TALBOT’ Rim of Pit xv. ‘Miss Daventry.. started to run. Naturally I ran after her.’ Rogan smiled. ‘Old habits die hard.’ 2002 Washington Times 6 Mar. A2 Lately, we’ve heard high French officials denounce our nation’s anti-terrorism policies as ‘simplistic’ and seen a French Olympic skating judge given the heave for apparently conspiring to aid the Russians (old habits die hard). 2007 Times 13 Sept. 18 Things may have changed, but old habits die hard and Portugal’s historic habits more than justify suspicions about its police force’s methods, motives and obsessional secrecy. "habit