Crime is not punished as an offence against God, but as prejudicial to society.
—James Anthony Froude (1818–94) British Historian, Novelist, Biographer, Editor
I have known a vast quantity of nonsense talked about bad men not looking you in the face. Don’t trust that conventional idea. Dishonesty will stare honesty out of countenance any day in the week, if there is anything to be got by it.
—Charles Dickens (1812–70) English Novelist
Of all the adult male criminals in London, not two in a hundred have entered upon a course of crime who have lived an honest life up to the age of twenty.—Almost all who enter on a course of crime do so between the ages of eight and sixteen.
—Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury (1621–83) British Statesman
As there is a use in medicine for poisons, so the world cannot move without rogues.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
A burglar who respects his art always takes his time before taking anything else.
—O. Henry (William Sydney Porter) (1862–1910) American Writer of Short Stories
Like art and politics, gangsterism is a very important avenue of assimilation into society.
—E. L. Doctorow (b.1931) American Writer, Editor, Academic
Behind every great fortune there is a crime.
—Honore de Balzac (1799–1850) French Novelist
The contagion of crime is like that of the plague.—Criminals collected together corrupt each other.—They are worse than ever when, at the termination of their punishment, they return to society.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
Society often forgives the criminal; it never forgives the dreamer.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
As for an authentic villain, the real thing, the absolute, the artist, one rarely meets him even once in a lifetime. The ordinary bad hat is always in part a decent fellow.
—Colette (1873–1954) French Novelist, Performer
We are the people our parents warned us about.
—Jimmy Buffett (b.1946) American Musician, Author
The secret of a great success for which you are at a loss to account is a crime that has never been found out, because it was properly executed.
—Honore de Balzac (1799–1850) French Novelist
The world of crime is a last refuge of the authentic, uncorrupted, spontaneous event.
—Daniel J. Boorstin (1914–2004) American Historian, Academic, Attorney, Writer
It is no secret that organized crime in America takes in over forty billion dollars a year. This is quite a profitable sum, especially when one considers that the Mafia spends very little for office supplies.
—Woody Allen (b.1935) American Film Actor, Director
Crime butchers innocence to secure a throne, and innocence struggles with all its might against the attempts of crime.
—Maximilien Robespierre (1758–94) French Revolutionary
He threatens many that hath injured one.
—Ben Jonson (1572–1637) English Dramatist, Poet, Actor
Crime and punishment grow out of one stem. Punishment is a fruit that, unsuspected, ripens with the flower of the pleasure that concealed it.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
The study of crime begins with the knowledge of oneself. All that you despise, all that you loathe, all that you reject, all that you condemn and seek to convert by punishment springs from you.
—Henry Miller (1891–1980) American Novelist
He who profits by a crime commits it
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
All crime is a kind of disease and should be treated as such.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
When it comes to the point, really bad men are just as rare as really good ones.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Every society gets the kind of criminal it deserves. What is also true is that every community gets the kind of law enforcement it insists on.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
A crime persevered in a thousand centuries ceases to be a crime, and becomes a virtue. This is the law of custom, and custom supersedes all other forms of law.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
What’s breaking into a bank compared with founding a bank?
—Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) German Poet, Playwright, Theater Personality
Crime, like disease, is not interesting; it is something to be done away with by general consent, and that is all about it.
—Anonymous
Set a thief to catch a thief.
—Common Proverb
There is no crime of which I do not deem myself capable.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Crime is a fact of the human species, a fact of that species alone, but it is above all the secret aspect, impenetrable and hidden. Crime hides, and by far the most terrifying things are those which elude us.
—Georges Bataille (1897–1962) French Essayist, Intellectual
Great thieves punish little ones.
—Common Proverb
The faults of the burglar are the qualities of the financier.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright