Frank Abagnale Quotes

These days, there are many people around the world who listen to the songs that made me infamous and read the books that made me respectable.

If you get involved in a controversy, then that becomes the mesmerizing event that people remember you by.

Before I became famous I used to think there's no smoke without fire. But believe me, there can be a fire without smoke.

Once you become famous, there is nothing left to become but infamous.

I happen to be notorious. That, I have no control over.

Once you become famous, you can't become unfamous. You can become a failure.

I've sort of come to accept the fact that when I'm 80, people will ask about Michael Alig. I've had to realize that this is part of who I am.

I don't consider myself a celebrity. I'm just a journalist.

The problem with fame is that you get frozen in one frame and nothing you can do can alter the nature.

But hey, controversy - well, it hasn't hurt me in 50 years.

People feel like they know me from the work I have done, but it's not me.

But, look, Washington is a town that creates myths for its own existence and its own amusement, and I was a subject of myth, sort of like Grendel in Beowulf - you know, not seen very often but often talked about.

People don't get through to the essence of you right away - it's always the famous 'girl' or the famous 'girlfriend'. I'd rather be known for myself.

A famous person to themselves, they don't get up in the morning and think, I'm famous. I'm not famous to me. Famous is a perception.

Look, you're either loved or hated. Which is a good thing, as Bette Davis used to say.

I still forgive him, because by doing what he did, he made it famous.

Fame means millions of people have the wrong idea of who you are.

It is more interesting to be compared to someone famous, because it lets you gauge what perceptions people have about your appearance.

Not only do I have celebrity, but I have notoriety, which is sometimes more seductive.

As long as my face is on page one, I don't care what they say about me on page seventeen.

Actually, the curious thing is that the more you become a subject of admiration or loathing, the more you're examined under a microscope, the distance seems to open up between who you really are and the portrayals that people impose on you.

I've gone from the most trusted man in America to one of the most debated.

I really don't care if people know who I am or what's said about me.

There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.

I don’t care what you say about me, as long as you say something about me, and as long as you spell my name right.