Quotes from Frank W. Abagnale

What bothered me most was their lack of style. I learned early that class is universally admired. Almost any fault, sin or crime is considered more leniently if there's a touch of class involved.

Former police chief of Houston once said of me: "Frank Abagnale could write a check on toilet paper, drawn on the Confederate States Treasury, sign it 'U.R. Hooked' and cash it at any bank in town, using a Hong Kong driver's license for identification.

It's not what a man has but what a man is that's important. This car is fine for me. It gets me around. I know who I am and what I am, and that's what counts, not what other people might think of me.

I stole every nickel and blew it on fine threads, luxurious lodgings, fantastic foxes, and other sensual goodies. I partied in every capital in Europe and basked on all the world's most famous beaches.

The second is observation. Observation is a skill that can be developed, but I was born blessed (or cursed) with the ability to pick up on details and items the average man overlooks.

A con artist's only weapon is his brain.

Of course, as someone once observed, there is no right way to do something wrong

A MAN'S ALTER EGO is nothing more than his favorite image of himself.

in my four months of legal cramming I'd learned the law is full of technicalities. Technicalities are what screw up justice. Wilcox

When you're up there hundreds of people will claim you as a friend. When you're down, you're lucky if one will buy you a cup of coffee.

The fox who keeps to one den is the easiest caught by the terriers, and I felt I had nested too long in one place.

What I did in my youth is hundreds of times easier today. Technology breeds crime.

THERE IS ENCHANTMENT in a uniform, especially one that marks the wearer as a person of rare skills, courage or achievement. A

The third factor is research, the big difference between the hard-nosed criminal and the super con man.

nothing more than his favorite image of himself. The mirror in my room in the Windsor Hotel in Paris reflected my favorite image of me—a darkly handsome young airline pilot, smooth-skinned, bull-shouldered and immaculately groomed. Modesty is not one of my virtues.

nothing more than his favorite image of himself. The mirror in my room in the Windsor Hotel in Paris reflected my favorite image of me—a darkly handsome young airline pilot, smooth-skinned, bull-shouldered and immaculately groomed. Modesty is not one of my virtues. At the time, virtue was not one of my virtues.

When Henry Ford invented the Model-T, women shed their bloomers and put sex on the road.

I learned early that class is universally admired. Almost any fault, sin or crime is considered more leniently if there's a touch of class involved.

Dad just smiled wryly. "You'll learn, Frank, that when you're up there're hundreds of people who'll claim you as a friend. When you're down, you're lucky if one of them will buy you a cup of coffee. If I had it to do over again, I'd select my friends more carefully. I do have a couple of good friends. They're not wealthy, but one of them got me my job in the post office.

It's not what a man has but what a man is that's important.

A man's alter ego is nothing more than his favorite image of himself.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, is the most respected, and probably the largest, commercial flight-training school in the nation, I was informed. It's the Notre Dame of the air.

during the first two interrogative sessions. Either I refused to answer or I would reply

I looked at it and decided it was not a check I would cash were I a teller and someone presented the check for payment. But a thrift shop dress is usually taken for high fashion when it's revealed under a mink coat.