Quotes from Assuming Names: A Con Artist's Masquerade

Tanya Thompson ·  280 pages

Rating: (10.8K votes)


“Prisons are full of sociopaths and psychopaths, but when questioned, the imprisoned sociopath will honestly admit that they will commit any number of crimes to help a friend.

A friend will help you move; a true friend will help you move a body.

A friend will bail you out of jail; a true friend will be sitting beside you.


Who wouldn’t want to have a true friend? But they sound a lot like a sociopath.”
― Tanya Thompson, quote from Assuming Names: A Con Artist's Masquerade


“The absolute truth is a wicked sort of rush. It's far more amusing than any lie. Both have the potential to empower and to hurt, but the truth is emotionally superior. Few people could fault you for it, not when you got ethics on your side. The truth is morally unassailable.

But is has no pity. It is merciless.”
― Tanya Thompson, quote from Assuming Names: A Con Artist's Masquerade


“From what I've witness, honesty didn't really make anyone happy. The truth was a punch to the gut, and while you were falling, a knee to the face, then you could lie on the floor and bleed for a spell.”
― Tanya Thompson, quote from Assuming Names: A Con Artist's Masquerade


“From what I’d witnessed, honesty didn’t really make anyone happy. The truth was a punch to the gut, and while you were falling, a knee to the face, then you could lie on the floor and bleed for a spell.”
― Tanya Thompson, quote from Assuming Names: A Con Artist's Masquerade


“Do you know the difference between neurotics and psychotics?”

“Neurotics build castles in the sky; psychotics move into them.”
― Tanya Thompson, quote from Assuming Names: A Con Artist's Masquerade



“With the amount of diazepam in me, I should have been content to lie back and let events unfold as they may, and my curiosity did for a moment consider it, but then a punch of panic reminded me that people far saner than I were murdered for less in more conspicuous locations.”
― Tanya Thompson, quote from Assuming Names: A Con Artist's Masquerade


“this morning I go to pay for breakfast and there, right there at the Kroger check-out, staring me in the face is a national magazine with your picture on the cover. Counterfeit Countess, it said. In great big, bold type: Counterfeit! Countess! Counterfeit,” he reiterated, “a word interchangeable with forgery and often associated with arrest.” Ah, yes. Patrice had called from Austin and warned me she had sold the story to Woman’s World magazine. “Last sentence?” Mittwede asked. “You know what it is?’ “No, I’ve not seen it.” “Tanya says, ‘I’m going to grow up and be a con artist.’” It had struck me as pretty funny when I said it, but Mittwede had better delivery. I think it was the hysteria. He was saying, “I remember that story. That was like a year and a half ago. You didn’t tell me you were that girl, the Dallas Countess. I already knew the story but I read it again, and I know all the cops have read it again, too. And now your picture is with Passport Services and at the check-out counter. You think federal agents don’t buy groceries? You’re fucking crazy. We’re going to be arrested.” “You maybe need to take a Valium.” “I threw them all in the fire!”   ~~~~~~”
― Tanya Thompson, quote from Assuming Names: A Con Artist's Masquerade


“Do you know the difference between neurotics and psychotics?” He answered before I could speak, “Neurotics build castles in the sky; psychotics move into them.” And”
― Tanya Thompson, quote from Assuming Names: A Con Artist's Masquerade


“In my case, intelligence was a disease that had led to a psychotic episode.”
― Tanya Thompson, quote from Assuming Names: A Con Artist's Masquerade


“merriment, making certain they understood it was a game where”
― Tanya Thompson, quote from Assuming Names: A Con Artist's Masquerade



“As long as I held the angel mask firmly over my demonic smile, no one doubted my honesty. I”
― Tanya Thompson, quote from Assuming Names: A Con Artist's Masquerade


“A friend will help you move; a true friend will help you move a body. A friend will bail you out of jail; a true friend will be sitting beside you. Who”
― Tanya Thompson, quote from Assuming Names: A Con Artist's Masquerade


“I was an inexperienced fifteen-year-old sociopath who had never had any depth of emotion.”
― Tanya Thompson, quote from Assuming Names: A Con Artist's Masquerade


“Even though this was going to be the biggest act I had ever put on, I intended to play it as I always had—pure improvisation, all on impulse, with little more known than I would be playing the part of a countess.”
― Tanya Thompson, quote from Assuming Names: A Con Artist's Masquerade


“He was praying for my soul. And he had a great many concerns. I stared at the carpet wondering when it was going to end, telling myself I needed to figure out this religion thing before I went any further, promising I would never make light of it again in front of someone who could put me on my knees.   ~~~~~~”
― Tanya Thompson, quote from Assuming Names: A Con Artist's Masquerade



“The truth was a punch to the gut, and while you were falling, a knee to the face, then you could lie on the floor and bleed for a spell. Ed”
― Tanya Thompson, quote from Assuming Names: A Con Artist's Masquerade


“The absolute truth is a wicked sort of rush. It’s far more amusing than any lie. Both have the potential to empower and to hurt, but the truth is emotionally superior. Few people could fault you for it, not when you’ve got ethics on your side. The truth is morally unassailable. But”
― Tanya Thompson, quote from Assuming Names: A Con Artist's Masquerade


About the author

Tanya Thompson
Born place: The United States
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Maria, báu vật của ông!
Tạm biệt cháu.
Hãy yêu quý bà, bố và mẹ, hãy trở thành một cô gái tuyệt vời để không xấu hổ với cái tên Đức Mẹ.
Ryuzo”
― Banana Yoshimoto, quote from Goodbye Tsugumi


“I narrowed my eyes. I don't trust you.
I don't trust you,either.
So we don't move.
Ever? He met my eyes again,and searched me.”
― Jodi Meadows, quote from The Orphan Queen


“IT MIGHT SEEM WEIRD TO hate parties. Who hates parties? It’s just a bunch of people getting together to have a good time, right? Wrong. It’s a bunch of people getting together to be drunk, loud assholes, with a special emphasis on the loud. And another emphasis on the drunk. And a third emphasis on assholes, while we’re at it. Jamie”
― Tommy Wallach, quote from Thanks for the Trouble


“Are you sure it is trustworthy, Mellanie?"
"I'd be dead if it wasn't."
"yes. I suppose that does generate a respectable level of personsal confidence”
― Peter F. Hamilton, quote from Judas Unchained


“Athletics lasts for such a short period of time. It ends for people. But while it lasts, it creates this make-believe world where normal rules don’t apply. We build this false atmosphere. When it’s over and the harsh reality sets in, that’s the real joke we play on people. . . . Everybody wants to experience that superlative moment, and being an athlete can give you that. It’s Camelot for them. But there’s even life after it.”
― H.G. Bissinger, quote from Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream


Interesting books

Flowers in the Attic
(128.7K)
Flowers in the Attic
by V.C. Andrews
Nineteen Minutes
(264.3K)
Nineteen Minutes
by Jodi Picoult
City of Heavenly Fire
(222.4K)
City of Heavenly Fir...
by Cassandra Clare
The Remains of the Day
(144.4K)
The Remains of the D...
by Kazuo Ishiguro
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption
(584.8K)
Unbroken: A World Wa...
by Laura Hillenbrand
Betrayed
(217.3K)
Betrayed
by P.C. Cast

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.