[Ads-l] Saying Origin: Age and treachery will overcome youth and skill

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

This saying in the subject line has been attributed to
singer-songwriter Waylon Jennings, playwright David Mamet, political
commentator P. J. O’Rourke, race car driver Johnny Rutherford, and
others.

Way back in June 2011, JL initiated a thread on this topic, and I
responded with a citation dated July 29, 1977:

https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2011-June/110400.html

The wonderful reference book "The New Yale Book of Quotations" has a
citation dated May 2, 1977.

In 2021, JL shared with me offline a citation dated July 21, 1975.
Now, there is a Quote Investigator article on this topic:

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2025/06/04/age-treachery/

Below is an overview of the adage showing dates and attributions for
close matches in proverbial form:

1975 Jul 21: Old age and treachery will always defeat youth and skill
(Motto displayed in the office of Jerry Schofield)

1975 Jul 22: Old age and treachery will overcome youth and skill
(Spoken by Wayne Dollick)

1977: Old age and treachery will triumph over youth and skill (Sign
displayed in the office of Joseph Mastroianni)

1978: Age and treachery will win over youth and skill (Credited to a
friend of NASCAR driver Hershel McGriff)

1979: Age, cunning, deceit and treachery can defeat youth and skill
(Message on a T-shirt sold by John George)

1979: Old age and treachery will overcome youth and skill (Bohor’s
Bromide in the book “1,001 Logical Laws”)

1982: Old age and trickery will overcome youth and skill (Motto for
cross-stitch pattern)

1984: Experience and treachery will beat youth and enthusiasm (Labeled
an “old saying” by race car driver Johnny Rutherford)

1986: Age and guile beats youth and talent every time (Announcer Don Davis)

1988: Age and treachery overcomes youth and exuberance (Curler Lil Werenka)

1991: Old age and treachery always overcomes youth and skill (Lyric in
a song by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson)

1995: Age and Guile Beat Youth, Innocence, and a Bad Haircut (Book
title by P. J. O’Rourke)

2009: Age and treachery will overcome youth and skill (Attributed to
Fausto Coppi)

2015: Old age and treachery will always beat youth and exuberance
(Attributed to David Mamet)

The genesis of this saying was lengthy. Phrases of this general type
have occurred often during the past one hundred years. Yet, these
precursors were not presented in proverbial form. Also, they did not
achieve precise wide repetition. Some statements used interrogative
form. Here is an overview with dates and ascriptions:

1910: Will experience and brains defeat youth and energy? (Sports
journalist Dick Jemison)

1915: Experienced fighters … utilize vast knowledge to overcome youth
and strength (Anonymous)

1922: The warfare of youth and love and honor and courage against age
and treachery and hypocrisy and mystery (Book reviewer John Clair
Minot)

1923: Proved the superiority … of age and intellect over youth and
skill (Anonymous)

1925: The ability of age and experience to defeat youth and endurance
(Sports journalist Robert Edgren)

1929: How to defeat youth with experience (Anonymous)

1938: The splendid victory of youth and love over age and treachery
(Author Louis Arthur Cunningham)

1964: Can age and experience beat youth and enthusiasm? (Anonymous)

Feedback welcome
Garson O'Toole
QuuoteInvestigator.com

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