Oldest Tricks in the Book

Mr. Colegrove was able to arrive at his dramatic conclusion by the oldest trick in the book—quotation out of context.
—Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Situation in Vietnam (1959)

Put things back where you found them.  Sure, it's one of the oldest tricks in the book—so old that nobody seems to pay it any mind.
—Prevention's Best Fat Fighters (2001)

[P]rotection or help in return for full confession is the oldest trick in the book, turned by parents, priests, psychologists, cops-and lawyers.
—Susan Wittig Albert, Hangman’s Root (1995)

[T]his was about the oldest trick in the book.  You pretend you have something . . . and you go fishing.
—Stephen Jones, Others Unknown (2001)

My informant relaxed, having fallen for the oldest trick in the book—the one about pretending you know more than you do.
—Rosemary Edghill, Bell, Book and Murder (1998)

Joy had used the oldest trick in the book to “trap” the extremely wealthy and handsome Kelly Maxwell into marriage: Pregnancy!
—B. K. Shropshire, Misty Row (2005)

[It] ended with John pulling the oldest trick in the book—something a child would do to stay home from school.  He’d played sick.
—Michael Fleeman, The Stranger in My Bed (2003)

—Mlisse R. Lafrance, “Colonizing the Feminine,” Sport and Postmodern Times (1998)

Gods above, it was the oldest trick in the book.
—Rosalind Miles, The Maid of the White Hands (2003)

Didn’t have any money?  Man, that’s the oldest trick in the books.  Everybody carries a fake wallet for robberies — sometimes two or even three.
—Robert Sheckley, “A Ticket to Tranai,” The Mammoth Book of Science Fiction (2002)

It’s called Paying Yourself First (also known as The Oldest Trick In The Book).
—Jean Chatsky, Talking Money (2002)

Time continued to pass—the oldest trick in the world, and maybe  
the only one that really is magic.
—Shawshank Redemption (1994)

They always work in pairs.  It’s the oldest trick in the book.
—David Sedaris, Me Talk Pretty One Day (2001)

For thus have I set them one against the other and each against himself.  It’s the oldest trick in the book.
—Norman Spinrad, “Riding the Torch,” The Mammoth Book of Fantastic Science Fiction (1992)

He used the oldest trick in the book: offering riches, power, and fame for my soul.
—Andrew G. Hodges, Jesus: An Interview Across Time (2003)

Most people tried the oldest trick in the book, carrying a small amount of money in an obvious place and hiding the rest in a less obvious place.
—John Farman, The Short and Bloody History of Highwaymen (2002)

The oldest trick in the book is for the rootkit to obscure its own location on the disk.
—Anton Chuvakin, Security Warrior (2004)

That is the oldest trick in the book.  Now you see it — now you don’t.
—William N. Jackson, More than a Wish (2004)

The oldest trick in the world is to put the word “new.”  I mean nothing is older than the idea of the new.
—Christopher Hitchens, “Transcript of People in the News,” CNN (2003)

The oldest trick in the world is to give someone a fancy new title instead of a raise.
—”Eric Greenberg, quoted in "From Company Recruiter to 'Nerd-Rustler'" by Mark Leibovich, Washington Post (1998)

The oldest trick in the book is to pass a competitor looking as strong as possible, even if you can only keep it up until you’re out of view.
—Dave Scott, Dave Scott’s Triathlon Training (1986)