Quotes from Frank Abagnale

Had I been older, I would've never been able to pull it off because I would've analyzed it to death. When I was 16, there was no such thing as 'what if.'

I was a millionaire twice over and half again before I was twenty-one. I stole every nickel of it and blew the bulk of the bundle on fine threads, gourmet foods, luxurious lodgings, fantastic foxes, fine wheels, and other sensual goodies.

I was an opportunist and got away with things because I was very young, but I went to prison and came out and remade my life.

Most people are fascinated by what I did as a teenager, but when I look back at my life, I don't think very much about those years. I was an opportunist and got away with things because I was very young, but I went to prison and came out and remade my life.

I kept a notebook, a surreptitious journal in which I jotted down phrases, technical data, miscellaneous information, names, dates, places, telephone numbers, thoughts, and a collection of other data I thought was necessary or might prove helpful.

Banks are so protected from liability they would have to really do something that was their mistake in order for them to be liable for it. Banks don't look at signatures. They're processing millions of checks and they have very little liability.

While I was on an undercover assignment in Texas, I met my wife, Kelly.

When 'Catch Me If You Can' was published back in 1980, I never dreamed that it would become a bestseller, much less a major motion picture and now a big Broadway musical. What's amazing about the book is that it has never gone out of print.

Only one thing makes a man a man. He loves his wife, is faithful to her, and puts his wife and kids as the most important things in life.

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

We should be very concerned: if identity theft is so simple to do, what's to stop me from entering this country and assuming the identity of someone else for the sole purpose of living here illegally for terrorist reasons? That alone would be a concern.

I was just a guy who ran away from home at 16 because my parents were getting a divorce and the judge was making me choose which parent to live with. I didn't want to make that choice. I ended up in New York City.

I'm glad I'm a draw. People know that, not only am I the guy that did it, I spent 40 years on the other side.

You have to be smarter and a wiser businessperson and consumer. You have to learn to protect yourself through education.

Most people don't recognize me, but they know my name. TSA people rarely recognize my name, ironically, and they are the security people.

At the FBI, very rarely do they investigate crime under $100,000.

Whether you're earning $7 an hour or $700,000 a year, it's very important to protect your credit rating.

The Internet is a wonderful thing, but it opens the door to many crimes, so you have to stay ahead of it.

I went from 198 pounds to 109 while I was in prison in France, and I had to tie my clothes on with rope.

It's amazing to me that we live in such a wonderful country where anyone can have a problem in life and get up, dust themselves off and start all over again.

Most people don't reconcile their bank accounts.

I would have thought technology would have made it harder to do what I did.

When people write about me, they usually start off with the headline 'World's Greatest Con Man.'

I served my time and came out of prison when I was just 26 and have worked with the government for 37 years. But people only remember me for what I did before that.