A Dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

1546 J. HEYWOOD Dialogue of Proverbs II.i. F3V Som therto said, the grene new

brome swepith cleene. 1578 LYLY Euphues I. 232 Ah well I wotte [know] that a newe

broome sweepeth cleene. 1616 J. WITHALS Dict. (rev. ed.) 569 New bromes sweepe

cleane, yet old friendship still retaine. 1776 G. COLMAN New Brooms! 15 I am glad he is

gone—Glad!—To be sure. New Brooms, you know. 1877 J. A. FROUDE Short Studies 3rd

Ser. 55 New brooms sweep clean. Abbot Thomas, like most of his predecessors, began

with attempts at reformation. 1979 F. OLBRICH Sweet & Deadly iv. He was all right at

first. It was a case of a new broom sweeping clean. improvement; innovation

What is NEW cannot be true

1639 J. CLARKE Parœmiologia Anglo-Latina 228 The newest things, not always

truest. 1791 J. BOSWELL Life of Johnson II. 283 I found that generally what was new

was false. 1880 J. NICHOL Byron ix. We are told.. that he knew little of art or music. .. It

is true but not new. But when Hunt proceeds to say that Byron had no sentiment.. it is new

enough, but is manifestly not true. 1928 Times 4 Feb. 8 Sir Arthur Evans has fallen a

victim.. to the old slogan’What is new cannot be true.’ innovation

NEW lords, new laws

Cf. a 1450 St. Editha (1883) 96 Willyham Conquerour was made here kyng, And made
newe lordus and eke new lawe.

a 1547 E. HALL Chronicle (1548) Hen. VI 169 Tholde spoken prouerbe, here toke

place: New Lordes, new lawes. 1824 SCOTT St. Ronan’s Well II. i. But new lords new

laws—naething but fine and imprisonment, and the game no a feather the plentier. 1874

T. HARDY Far from Madding Crowd I. viii. ‘I was lately married to a woman, and she’s

my vocation now.’.. ‘New lords new laws, as the saying is.’ 2004 News Bulletin

(dateline: Sochi) 28 Mar. (Interfax) The EU presidency rotates every six months. ‘As a

Russian proverb says: new lords, new laws. The EU has new priorities with every new

president. It is difficult to work in these conditions.’ change; circumstances

You can’t put NEW wine in old bottles

With allusion to MATTHEW ix. 17 (AV) Neither do men put new wine into old bottles:
else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish. The idea is also
expressed allusively as a metaphorical phrase.