Frank W. Abagnale Quotes

“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.”

“I was a millionaire twice over and again before I was twenty-one. I stole every nickel of it...”

“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.”

“Some books are judged by their covers, it seems, and in my uniform I was an immediate best seller.”

“I was an imposter, one of the most wanted criminals on four continents, and at the moment I was doing my thing, putting a super hype on some nice people.”

“A man’s alter ego is nothing more than his favorite image of himself.”

“Modesty is not one of my virtues. At the time, virtue was not one of my virtues.”

“I was always aware that I was Frank Abagnale, Jr., that I was a check swindler and a faker, and if and when I was caught I wasn’t going to win any Oscars. I was going to jail.”

“You’d con your own father, Frank.”

“I wasn’t a Pan Am pilot or any other kind of pilot. I was an imposter...”

“I made a lot of exits through side doors, down fire escapes or over rooftops. I abandoned more wardrobes in the course of five years than most men acquire in a lifetime. I was slipperier than a buttered escargot.”

“Someone said there’s no such thing as an honest man. He was probably a con man.”

“Trouble was, at the time I didn’t know what I was or who I was.”

“I did have a definite goal. I was going to be a success in some field. I was going to make it to the top of some mountain. And once there, no one or nothing was ever going to dislodge me from the peak.”

“It’s a scientific fact that the bumblebee can’t fly, either. But he does, and he makes a lot of honey on the side. And that’s all I intended to be. A bumblebee in Pan Am’s honey hive.”

“There is enchantment in a uniform, especially one that marks the wearer as a person of rare skills, courage or achievement.”

“A boy simply wasn’t worth a man’s wages. So I aged ten years overnight.”

“The situation did have its effect on us boys, of course. Me in particular. I loved my dad. I was the closest to him, and he commenced to use me in his campaign to win back Mom.”

“It wasn’t altogether a relaxing life. I didn’t exactly keep my finger on the panic button, but I put a lot of mileage on my running shoes.”

“I’ve been described by authorities and news reporters as one of this century’s cleverest bum-check passers, flimflam artists and crooks, a con man of Academy Award caliber. I was a swindler and and poseur of astonishing ability.”