Never despise a friend because he's old
A piece of country advice: don't undervalue an old friend just because they're familiar, aged, or have been around forever. Used as a soft rebuke or as gentle counsel, depending on the speaker. The shorter form 'never despise an old friend' is a known Irish traditional tune title.
Etymology
The full phrase circulates in South Armagh as a piece of inherited oral wisdom. The shorter form 'Never despise an old friend' is recorded as the title of an Irish traditional tune, attested in nineteenth-century music collections and still played in sessions. Whether the saying gave the tune its name or the tune kept the saying alive is not settled.
In a sentence
"Sure, you'd want to be careful there - never despise a friend because he's old."
Historical notes
The phrase belongs to a small body of South Armagh saws that survived because they ride two genres at once - traditional music keeps the short form in circulation, family use keeps the long form going. The 'because he's old' version is more pointed than the tune title: it tells the listener exactly what kind of dismissal is being warned against. Country speech tends to favour the longer, plainer construction; the shorter form has a folk-poetry compactness that suits the tune.
Sources
- Irish Traditional Music Archive (ITMA), tune index 'Never despise an old friend'. · academic
- Local oral evidence, South Armagh (Patrick Hughes). · other