Frank W. Abagnale · 224 pages
Rating: (39.1K votes)
“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”
“A man's alter ego is nothing more than his favorite image of himself.”
“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.”
“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.”
“It’ll turn me into a weapon,’ I say, my voice suddenly loud.
‘All you got to do is curl your hands into fists and you turn into a weapon,’ says Jim. ‘Your body is just another tool. This technology changes nothing; it only amplifies. You decide how to use your tools. Whether to do good or evil.”
“It’s not so much bad or good as strange and outré, Finn, and words like rococo, I should guess, and baroque if you go with my drift?”
“And then, after the first blush of the admiration which he could not help feeling, he began to be tortured by the pangs of envy, by that slow fever which creeps over the heart and changes it into a nest of vipers, each devouring the other and ever born anew.”
“A birth usually has more consequences than a death.”
“B. How is Jesus able to understand our weaknesses? C. How is our great high priest different from us? 2. Read 1 John 4:9–11. A. How did God show his love for us? What was the purpose of this action (v. 9)? B. Why did Jesus come into this world, according to verse 10? C. What conclusion does John reach, based on what he has said in verses 9–10? 3. Read Hebrews 2:11–18. A. According to verse 11, what does Jesus call those he saves? Why does he call them this? B. What was the purpose for Jesus becoming human, according to verses 14–15? C. Why can Jesus fully understand any problem or challenge you face, according to verses 17–18? How does this make him the perfect helper for you? Battle Lines Spend some time thanking God for claiming you, saving you, and using you. Ask him to use you to bring others to him, and then look for ways to bless others as God has blessed you. Review the five stones with which you’ve been equipped to face your giants.”
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