To Catch a Thief quotes

View Quote Francie: The man I want doesn't have a price.
Robie: [chuckling] Well, that eliminates me...You're absolutely right. Give me a woman who knows her own mind.
Francie: No one would give you a woman like that. You have to capture her.
Robie: Any particular method?
Francie: Yes, but it's no good unless you discover it yourself.

View Quote Hughson: You are a man of obvious good taste in everything. How did you - I mean, why did you...?
Robie: Why did I take up stealing?...To live better, to own things I couldn't afford, to acquire this good taste which you now enjoy and which I should be very reluctant to give up.
Hughson: Oh, you mean you were frankly dishonest.
Robie: I tried to be.
Hughson: You know, I thought you'd have some defense, some tale of hardship - your mother ran off when you were young, your father beat you, or something.
Robie: Naah, no. I was a member of an American trapeze act in the circus that traveled in Europe. It folded and I was stranded, so I put my agility to a more rewarding purpose.
Hughson: You have no other defense.
Robie: No. For what it's worth, I only stole from people who wouldn't go hungry...
Hughson: I take it you were a sort of modern Robin Hood. I mean, you gave away most of the proceeds of your crimes.
Robie: Kept everything myself. Well, let's face it, I was an out-and-out thief, like you.
Hughson: Steady, old man.
Robie: No, no, wait a minute. Have you ever taken an ashtray from a hotel or a towel?
Hughson: Souvenirs, they expect that.
Robie: You're given an expense allowance to pay for all the meals you eat on the job. Right? But this meal is free. Now, are you going to deduct the price of a lunch from your expense account? Well, of course you're not. It would be stupid. Do you agree?
Hughson: Yes.
Robie: You're a thief. Only an amateur thief, of course, but it will help you to sympathize with us professionals.

View Quote [to Frances, about Robie] I wouldn't mind buying that for you.

View Quote I might even retire here...Quite a few of the roofs need careful examination.

View Quote [to Robie] You've got a very strong grip - the kind a burglar needs.

View Quote Robie: I can't come. I'm going to the casino and watch a firework display.
Francie: You'd get a better view from my place.
Robie: Already got another date.
Francie: Everywhere you'll go, I'll have you paged as John Robie the Cat. 8 o'clock, and be on time.
Robie: I haven't got a decent watch.
Francie: Steal one.

View Quote [after unmasking Danielle] I figured it was you the night your father died. He couldn't climb anything, and you always did his legwork for him even during the war when you were a kid.

View Quote [about her late husband] He never realized how valuable the ground was he had his feet on...We had a ranch. It wasn't a very big one. No plumbing. A little thing out back. Poor Jeremiah, he'll never know how close he came to twenty million barrels of oil.

View Quote Mrs. Stevens: [to Robie] How come you haven't made a pass at my daughter? [to Frances] And don't say, 'Oh, Mother!' to me. Mr. Burns, I asked you a question.
Robie: Very pretty, quietly attractive.
Mrs. Stevens: Yeah, but too nice. Sorry I ever sent her to that finishing school. I think they finished her there.

View Quote What I can't understand is how this thief can imitate me so perfectly. It has to be someone who knew every detail of my technque. Maybe somebody in the police...He picks perfect victims and only the right stones. Goes up walls, over the roofs, down through the skylights. Leaves no clue and then disappears in the night...If somebody caught this imitator, we'd all be off the hook, wouldn't we?...No one believes me, but the police are chasing the wrong man. Someone's got to start chasing the right one...I've got to catch this imitator myself...I can anticipate him, try to figure out his next move, and then get there ahead of him and catch him with his hands right in the jewel case...The biggest problem is time. I've got to hit this copy-cat before he hears I'm after him. To catch him in the act, I need better information than he has, the kind that takes months to dig out.

View Quote Palaces are for royalty. We're just common people with a bank account.

View Quote Since when is love a crime?

View Quote [to Hughson] You don't have to spend every day of your life proving your honesty, but I do.

View Quote Hughson: The pastries are light as air.
Robie: Germaine has very sensitive hands and an exceedingly light touch. She strangled a German general - without a sound.

View Quote Mrs. Stevens: [to Francie, about Robie] He's a swindler and a real man. Not one of those milksops you generally take up with. Why do you think we moved so many times, hmm? Your father was a swindler, dear, but a loveable one. If you ask me, this one's a bigger operator on every level.
Robie: Thank you, madam.
Francie: Mother, this is why I've had to spend half my life traveling around the world after you, to keep men like this away from you.
Mrs. Stevens: Well, after this, let me run my own interference. Looks like the blockers are having all the fun.
Francie: If she doesn't have any common sense, I do.
Mrs. Stevens: Oh, shut up! They were my baubles that were stolen. If I don't care, why should you? They're insured.