Catch Me If You Can: The True Story of a Real Fake

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

A con artist’s only weapon is his brain.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

She did things to me that would lure a hummingbird from a hibiscus and make a bulldog break his chain. I

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

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.

My one sensuous fault was women. I had a Cyprian lust for them.

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.

It was an odd pastime for a con man, but I had no real sense of hypocrisy. For the first time in my life I was giving unselfishly of myself, with no thought of any return, and it made me feel good.

I felt a little like Custer must have felt when he chanced upon Sitting Bull’s Sioux.