Crime Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old crime quotes, crime sayings, and crime proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

Only crime and the criminal, it is true, confront us with the perplexity of radical evil; but only the hypocrite is really rotten to the core. Hannah Arendt
A good act does not wash out the bad, nor a bad act the good. Each should have its own reward. George R.R. Martin
Crime is to man as fleas are to dog, the likelihood of its presence increases as the quality of one's personal circumstances decreases. Jerome P. Crabb
Almost all crime is due to the repressed desire for aesthetic expression. Evelyn Waugh
A crime which is the crime of many none avenge. Lucan
This crime against humanity must never be forgotten. Ronald Reagan
Rape is a more heinous crime than murder since the rape victim dies throughout the period she lives. Amit Abraham
To have once been a criminal is no disgrace. To remain a criminal is the disgrace. Malcolm X
A crime is a crime irrespective of the birth marks of the criminal. Narendra Modi
There are crimes that, like frost on flowers, in one single night destroy character and reputation. Henry Ward Beecher
Little crimes breed big crimes. You smile at little crimes and then big crimes blow your head off. Terry Pratchett
There are crimes which become innocent, and even glorious, through their splendor, number, and excess: Hence it is, that public theft is called Address, and to seize on Provinces unjustly, to make Conquests. Francois de la Rochefoucauld
Crime against the individual is the equivalent of crime against humanity. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
A person is born with feelings of envy and hate. If he gives way to them, they will lead him to violence and crime, and any sense of loyalty and good faith will be abandoned. Xun Zi
Crime is the price society pays for abandoning character. James Q. Wilson
There are crimes of passion and crimes of logic. The boundary between them is not clearly defined. Albert Camus
There is not a crime, there is not a dodge, there is not a trick, there is not a swindle, there is not a vice which does not live by secrecy. Joseph Pulitzer
Commit a crime and the world is made of glass. Commit a crime, and it seems as if a coat of snow fell on the ground, such as reveals in the woods the track of every partridge and fox and squirrel and mole. Ralph Waldo Emerson
A crime is born in the gap between the morality of society and that of the individual. Håkan Nesser
But from each crime are born bullets that will one day seek out in you where the heart lies. Pablo Neruda
It was crime at its purest, in which empathy, that most fundamental aspect of human morality, evaporated and another being became only a target for untamed fantasy. Scott Turow
It is a crime against the State to be powerful enough to commit one. Pierre Corneille
Crime and bad lives are the measure of a State's failure, all crime in the end is the crime of the community. H. G. Wells
Crime has always been a regrettably consistent element of the human experience. Mark Frost
When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw. Nelson Mandela
Crimes lead one into another; they who are capable of being forgers are capable of being incendiaries. Edmund Burke
No crime can ever be defended on rational grounds. Livy
A crime against god is a demonstrated impossibility. Robert Green Ingersoll
Crime succeeds by sudden despatch; honest counsels gain vigor by delay. Tacitus
Crime is a fact of the human species, a fact of that specieas 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
Some people steal to stay alive, and some steal to feel alive. Simple as that. V.E. Schwab
Crime is terribly revealing. Try and vary your methods as you will, your tastes, your habits, your attitude of mind, and your soul is revealed by your actions. Agatha Christie
When crimes begin to pile up they become invisible. When sufferings become unendurable the cries are no longer heard. The cries, too, fall like rain in summer. Bertolt Brecht
Our crime against criminals lies in the fact that we treat them like rascals. Friedrich Nietzsche
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
Punishment is not for revenge, but to lessen crime and reform the criminal. Elizabeth Fry
All crime is a kind of disease and should be treated as such. Mahatma Gandhi
All issues of crime are better addressed at the state level. Rand Paul
Violence is a crime against humanity, for it destroys the very fabric of society. Pope John Paul II
Crime is naught but misdirected energy. Emma Goldman
Every crime will bring remorse to the man who committed it. Juvenal
Crimes of which a people is ashamed constitute its real history. The same is true of man. Jean Genet
Crime takes the pulse of a culture. It tells us the truth about us as a species. Andrew Vachss
The easiest way to steal a man's wallet is to tell him you're going to steal his watch. Kaz Brekker
Crime has no color. Crime has no type. Crime has no gender. The reason why crime doesn't end. It is being categorized to certain individuals that people who really commit it, get away with it, right under our noses. De philosopher DJ Kyos
Crime is only the retail department of what, in wholesale, we call penal law. George Bernard Shaw
Crime is as much a condition as an intention. Lewis F. Korns
Some explanations of a crime are not explanations: they're part of the crime. Olavo De Carvalho
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
Crime is a logical extension of the sort of behaviour that is often considered perfectly respectable in legitimate business. Robert Rice
Leaving someone in ignorance is also a crime. Jo-Anne M. Wemmers
Strictly speaking, a crime is an act forbidden by the law of the land, and one which is considered sufficiently serious to warant providing penalties for its commission. Clarence Darrow
An increase of crime, as show by statistics, may mean that the records are kept more completely than in former times. Clarence Darrow
When the violator is convicted. It has no necessary reference to the general moral condition of man. Clarence Darrow
We should always bear in mind that crime can never mean anything except the violation of law. Clarence Darrow
So long as the ordinary ideal of punishment prevails, a crime must consist of an act coupled with an intent to do the thing. Clarence Darrow
A generic crime habitat fosters many types of crime. Marcus Felson
Generic crime habitat develops along the edges between two neighborhoods. Marcus Felson
Numerous abandoned sites produce a thick crime habitat, encouraging crime to diversify and spread. Marcus Felson
Crime is pathological when it begins to drive our legitimate activities. Marcus Felson
A healthy community is not crime-free, but it manages and conatains crime, adjusting to it and preventing it from gaining the upper hand. Marcus Felson
When a violent criminal strikes, it is human nature to seek solace in a reason a justification, an explanation. Something logical and tangible that we can grasp. Eric Brach
There often are no signs, no obvious indicators that separate the pleasant neighbor from the sadistic murderer. Eric Brach
Criminals do not die by the hands of the law: they die by the hands of other men. Bernard Shaw
It takes all sorts of people to make the underworld. Don Marquis
The way of the transgressor is hard-for the police to find out. Evan Esar
Crime doesn't pay, but only if you get caught. Evan Esar
It takes two to make a criminal: one individual and one society. Evan Esar
Crimes will continue to be committed as long as those who do them aren't. Evan Esar
The battle against crime should begin in the high chair so as not to end in the electric chair. Evan Esar
The doctrine that the cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy is like saying that the cure of crime is more crime. Mencken
Behind every big fortune, there's a crime. Honoré de Balzac
Crime does not pay, as well as politics. Alfred E. Newman
Make crime pay. Become a lawyer. Will Rogers
Inside every hardened criminal beats the heart of a ten year old boy. Bart Simpson
The Americans are certainly great hero worshippers, and always take heroes from the criminal classes. Oscar Wilde
Growing old is like being increasingly penalized for a crime you haven't committed. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
If crime went down 100%, it would still be 50 times higher than it should be. John Bowman
Shoplifting is a victimless crime. Like punching someone in the dark. Nelson Muntz
If it is committed in the name of God or country, there is no crime so heinous that the public will not forgive it. Bathroom Readers' Institute