Crooks Quotes

• There's one way to find out if a man is honest - ask him. If he says, 'Yes,' you know he is a crook.

  Groucho Marx

  Funny, Truth, Honesty

  "Donald Trump, a Populist for the Rich" by Jim Hightower, progressive.org. October 9, 2016.

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• It seems far-fetched, even preposterous, to blame the global economic order for the persistence of severe poverty in countries that are ruled by obvious thugs and crooks.

  Thomas Pogge

  Country, Persistence, Thug

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• The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter.

  Dashiell Hammett

  Noir, Sam Spade, Falcon

  Dashiell Hammett (2007). “Vintage Hammett”, p.151, Vintage

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• People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook. I earned everything I've got.

  Richard M. Nixon

  People, President, Wells

  Speech, Orlando, Fla., 17 Nov. 1973

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• I think 80 percent of the population are really great, caring people who will help you and tell you the truth. That's just the way it is. And I think 20 percent of the population are crooks and liars. It's just a fact.

  Tom Hanks

  Liars, Caring, Thinking

  "Tom Hanks: I'm not always a nice guy". Interview with Tracy Smith, www.cbsnews.com. June 5, 2012.

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• In modern business it is not the crook who is to be feared most, it is the honest man who doesn't know what he is doing.

  William Wordsworth

  Money, Business, Men

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• I don't break the law* made for crooks, when I take away my own property - thus I am not obliged to conform to the law made for murderers when I deprive myself of my own life.

  Michel de Montaigne

  Suicide, Law, Break

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• I'd sooner be called a successful crook than a destitute monarch.

  Charlie Chaplin

  Successful, Monarchs, Destitute

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• The more expensive a school is, the more crooks it has — I'm not kidding.

  J. D. Salinger

  School, Expensive

  J. D. SALINGER (1951). “THE CATCHER IN THE RYE”

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• Republicans want smaller government for the same reason crooks want fewer cops; it's easier to get away with murder.

  James Carville

  Government, Political, Police

  James Carville (2003). “Had Enough?: A Handbook for Fighting Back”, p.21, Simon and Schuster

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• In Chicago, we love our crooks!

  David Mamet

  Chicago

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• There's a difference between criminals and crooks. Crooks steal. Criminals blow some guy's brains out. I'm a crook.

  Ronald Biggs

  Blow, Differences, Guy

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• In Texas, we do not hold high expectations for the [governor's] office; it's mostly been occupied by crooks, dorks and the comatose.

  Molly Ivins

  Texas, Expectations, Office

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• Well, I'm not a crook.

  Richard M. Nixon

  Wells

  Speech, Orlando, Fla., 17 Nov. 1973

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• Criminal justice, as it pertains to the Goldmans and Morgan Stanleys of the world, is not adversarial combat, with cops and crooks duking it out in interrogation rooms and courthouses. Instead, it's a cocktail party between friends and colleagues who from month to month and year to year are constantly switching sides and trading hats.

  Matt Taibbi

  Party, Years, Justice

  "Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail?". www.rollingstone.com. February 16, 2011.

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• Services were held today for Ken Lay - convicted thief and crook Ken Lay.They folded his arms across his chest and sowed his sleeves together so he couldn't put his hands in anyone's pockets when they walked by. You know when they say in a eulogy, "You're all richer for having known him." I don't think they're going to hear that.

  Jay Leno

  Thinking, Hands, Eulogy

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• I think very poorly of United Russia. United Russia is the party of corruption, the party of crooks and thieves. And it is the duty of every patriot and citizen of our country to make sure that this party is destroyed.

  Alexei Navalny

  Country, Party, Thinking

  "Net Impact". Interview with Julia Ioffe, www.newyorker.com. April 4, 2011.

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• The last copy of the Chicago Daily News I picked up had three crime stories on its front page. But by comparison to the gaudy days, this is small-time stuff. Chicago is as full of crooks as a saw with teeth, but the era when they ruled the city is gone forever.

  John Gunther

  Cities, Forever, Chicago

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• A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody.

  John Steinbeck

  Nuts, Guy, Company

  John Steinbeck (2016). “Of Mice and Men”, p.35, Hamilton Books

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• We will push those crooks, those mercenaries back into the swamp

  Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf

  Funny, Military, Baghdad

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• A guy needs somebody―to be near him. A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. Don't make no difference who the guy is, long's he's with you. I tell ya, I tell ya a guy gets too lonely an' he gets sick.

  John Steinbeck

  Lonely, Nuts, Differences

  John Steinbeck (2016). “Of Mice and Men”, p.35, Hamilton Books

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• I just want you to know you aren't going to church with a crook.

  Bernard Ebbers

  Church, Want, Knows

  "WorldCom inquiry widens" by David Teather, www.theguardian.com. July 1, 2002.

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• ... we photographers are nothing but a pack of crooks, thieves and voyeurs. We are to be found everywhere we are not wanted; we betray secrets that were never entrusted to us; we spy shamelessly on things that are not our business; And end up the hoarders of a vast quantity of stolen goods.

  Brassai

  Secret, Spy, Thieves

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• This battle for 'common-sense' gun control laws pits emotion and passion against logic and reason. All too often in such a contest, logic loses. So, expect more meaningless, if not harmful, 'gun control' legislation. Good news - if you're a crook.

  Larry Elder

  Passion, Gun, Law

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• And the Russians certainly don't have it. If a woman shows up in a fur coat, I just assume she's a crook. And that's me, the nice American. The assumption that you can't make money honestly is a killer.

  Esther Dyson

  Nice, Eyebrows, Killers

  "On the Frontier". Interview with Virginia Postrel, reason.com. October, 1996.

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