Al Capone Quotes

“A crook is a crook, and there's something healthy about his frankness in the matter. But any guy who pretends he is enforcing the law and steals on his authority is a swell snake. The worst type of these punks is the big politician. You can only get a little of his time because he spends so much time covering up that no one will know that he is a thief. A hard-working crook will – and can – get those birds by the dozen, but right down in his heart he won't depend on them – hates the sight of them.”

“Be careful who you call your friends. I’d rather have four quarters than one hundred pennies.”

“Beware of people who have nothing to lose.”

“Bolshevism is knocking at our gates, we can't afford to let it in... We must keep America whole and safe and unspoiled. We must keep the worker away from red literature and red ruses; we must see that his mind remains healthy.”

“Capitalists believe they can take everything at the table as belonging to them. Capitalism is the legitimate racket of the ruling class.”

“Do not mistake my kindness for weakness, I am kid to everyone, but if you are unkind to my it will not be weakness that you will remember me for.”

“Do not mistake my kindness for weakness, my calmness for ignorance or acceptance!”

“Every time a boy falls off a tricycle, every time a black cat has gray kittens, every time someone stubs a toe, every time there's a murder or a fire or the marines land in Nicaragua, the police and the newspapers holler 'get Capone'.”

“Find the toughest guy in the room. Embrace him like a brother. And then slam his head against the wall.”

“Hell must be a pretty swell spot, because the guys that invented religion have sure been trying hard to keep everybody else out.”

“I am just a businessman, giving the people what they want.”

“I am like any other man. All I do is supply a demand.”

“I am sick and tired of publicity. I want no more of it. It puts me in a bad light. I just want to be forgotten.”

“I don't even know what street Canada is on.”

“I got nothing against the honest cop on the beat, the kind you can't buy. You just have to have them transferred someplace where they can't do you any harm.”

“I got nothing against the honest cop on the beat. You just have them transferred someplace where they can't do you any harm. But don't ever talk to me about the honor of police captains or judges. If they couldn't be bought they wouldn't have the job.”

“I have built my organization upon fear.”

“I have spent the best years of my life giving people the lighter pleasures, helping them have a good time, and all I get is abuse, the existence of a hunted man.”

“I would rather be rich affluent and greedy and go to hell when I die, than live in poverty on this earth.”

“In this life all that I have is my word and my balls and I do not break them for nobody.”

“My rackets are run on strictly American lines and they're going to stay that way.”

“Now I know why tigers eat their young.”

“Prohibition has made nothing but trouble.”

“Public service is my motto.”

“Some call it bootlegging. Some call it racketeering. I call it a business.”

“They can't collect legal taxes from illegal money.”

“This American system of ours, call it Americanism, call it capitalism, call it what you will, gives each and every one of us a great opportunity if we only seize it with both hands and make the most of it.”

“Vote early and vote often.”

“When I sell liquor, it's called bootlegging; when my patrons serve it on Lake Shore Drive, it's called hospitality.”

“You can go a long way with a smile. You can go a lot farther with a smile and a gun.”