Frank Abagnale: I was a millionaire twice over and half again before I...

Two little mice fell in a bucket of cream. The first mouse quickly gave up and drowned. The second mouse, wouldn't quit. He struggled so hard that eventually he churned that cream into butter and crawled out. Gentlemen, as of this moment, I am that second mouse.

Frank Abagnale

perseverance giving-up attitude

I always tell people what I did 50 years ago as a teenager is now 4,000 times easier to do today than when I did it. Technology breeds crime - it always has and it always will. There's always going to be people willing to use technology in a negative, self-serving way. So today it's much easier, whether it's forging checks or getting information. People go on Facebook and tell you what car they drive, their mother's name, where you are going on vacation, where you've been on vacation. There's nothing you can't research in a matter of a couple of minutes and find out about someone.

Frank Abagnale

teenager technology couple

I live a much better life without having to worry about people chasing me. I spent five years in prison from 21 to 26, which is probably the best part of my youth behind bars. I was in some very bad prisons overseas as well. It was not a fun life, it was a very lonely life in reality. I was a smart enough kid to know that I was going to get caught. The law sometimes sleeps, but the law never dies. I knew it was just a matter of time. I would be caught and I'd get punished and face the consequences.

Frank Abagnale

smart lonely fun

A real man loves his wife, and places his family as the most important thing in life. Nothing has brought me more peace and content in life than simply being a good husband and father.

Frank Abagnale

fathers-day husband real

I was always in the right place at the right time, always willing to take advantage of an opportunity.

Frank Abagnale

advantage right-time opportunity

When I was a child at sixteen, I was just a child. All sixteen year-olds are just children. As much as we like them to be adults, they are just children. And like all children, they need their mother, and they need their father. All children need their mother and their father. All children are entitled to their mother and their father.

Frank Abagnale

mother father children

My proudest moment was probably when my oldest boy finished law school and went on to become an FBI agent. It was just beyond my imagination that - with my background - my own son would become an FBI agent.

Frank Abagnale

boys school son

If you believe you have a foolproof system, you've failed to take into consideration the creativity of fools.

Frank Abagnale

fool creativity believe

It's not what a man has but what a man is that's important.

Frank Abagnale

important men

Why do the Yankees always win? The other team can't stop looking at the pinstripes.

Frank Abagnale

yankees team winning

In the old days, a con man would be good looking, suave, well dressed, well spoken and presented themselves real well. Those days are gone because it's not necessary. The people committing these crimes are doing them from hundreds of miles away.

Frank Abagnale

real men people

The front of a cheque alone gives someone enough information to steal your identity.

Frank Abagnale

information identity giving

Im a true believer that you have a moral obligation to keep your employees honest, and that is why you have controls, so Im never tempted or put in a position where I could do something to defraud my employer.

Frank Abagnale

employers moral honest

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.

Frank Abagnale

faults style class

Criminals look at identity theft and say only 1 in 700 criminals gets convicted of it. And they look at check forgery and they know that for every 1,400 forgers arrested, only about 123 get convicted and about 26 go to jail. So the rewards are great, but the risks are very slim. So that's one of the reasons that make it very popular.

Frank Abagnale

jail risk identity

Most people are fascinated by what I did as a teenager, but when I look back at my life, I don't think very much about those years. I was an opportunist and got away with things because I was very young, but I went to prison and came out and remade my life.

Frank Abagnale

teenager years thinking

If my forgeries looked as bad as the CBS documents, it would have been "Catch Me In Two Days."

Frank Abagnale

catch-me forgery two

Banks are so protected from liability they would have to really do something that was their mistake in order for them to be liable for it. Banks don't look at signatures. They're processing millions of checks and they have very little liability.

Frank Abagnale

mistake littles order

I made a lot of exits through side doors, down fire escapes or over rooftops. I abandoned more wardrobes in the course of five years than most men acquire in a lifetime. I was slipperier than a buttered escargot.

Frank Abagnale

doors men years

Remember what being an adult is: It has nothing to do with money or awards.

Frank Abagnale

awards adults remember

I was a millionaire twice over and half again before I was twenty-one. I stole every nickel of it and blew the bulk of the bundle on fine threads, gourmet foods, luxurious lodgings, fantastic foxes, fine wheels, and other sensual goodies.