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Quotes & Sayings

51 Best Al Capone Quotes & Sayings

Here is a list of 51 Best Al Capone Quotes & Sayings.

 

Al Capone Quotes & Sayings

 

“Public service is my motto.”

 

“Now I know why tigers eat their young.”

 

“Prohibition has made nothing but trouble.”

 

“I have built my organization upon fear.”

 

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

 

“Vote early and vote often.”

 

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

 

“Capitalism is the legitimate racket of the ruling class.”

 

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

 

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

 

“All I ever did was supply a demand that was pretty popular.”

 

“A smile can get you far, but a smile with a gun can get you further.”

 

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

 

“You can do more with a kind word and a gun than with just a kind word.”

 

“You’d be surprised if you knew some of the fellows I’ve got to take care of.”

 

“It seems like I’m responsible for every crime that takes place in this country.”

 

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

 

“Racketeer? Why, the real racketeers are the banks!”

 

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

 

“The country wanted booze and I organized it. Why should I be called a public enemy?”

 

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

 

“Capitalism gives all of us a great opportunity if we seize it with both hands and hang on to it.”

 

“I’ve been accused of every death except the casualty list of the World War.”

 

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

 

“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.”

 

“Don’t you get the idea I’m one of those goddam radicals. Don’t get the idea I’m knocking the American system.”

 

“I hate this city’s stupid love affair with Al Capone, I hate that people think of him as a folk hero.”

 

“I’m a kind person, I’m kind to everyone, but if you are unkind to me, then kindness is not what you’ll remember me for.”

 

“You accomplish more with a smile, a handshake, and a gun than you do with just a smile and a handshake.”

 

“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 seize it with both hands and make the most of it.”

 

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

 

“Don’t mistake my kindness for weakness. I am kind to everyone, but when someone is unkind to me, weak is not what you are going to remember about me.”

 

“We been on the road for 18 hours… I need a bath, some chow… and then you and me sit down, and we talk about who dies,eh?”

 

“What do you want to do, get yourself killed before you are thirty? You’d better get some sense while a few of us are left alive.”

 

“Once you’re in the racket, you’re always in it. The parasites will trail you, begging for money and favors, and you can never get away from them no matter where you go.”

 

“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.”

 

“They talk about me not being legitimate. Nobody’s on the legit, you know that and so do they. Nobody’s really-on the legit when it comes down to cases.”

 

“Why not treat our business like any other man treats his, as something to work at in the daytime and forget when he goes home at night? There’s plenty of business for everybody. Why kill each other over it?”

 

“I’ve lost a million and a half on the horses and dice in the last two years. And the funny part is, I still like ’em, and if someone handed me another million I’d put it right in the nose of some horse that looked good to me.”

 

“The funny part of the whole thing is that a man in this line of business has so much company. I mean his customers. If people did not want beer and wouldn’t drink it, a fellow would be crazy for going around trying to sell it!”

 

“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.”

 

“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.”

 

“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 always been opposed to violence, to shootings. I have fought, yes, but fought for peace. And I believe I can take credit for the peace that now exists in the racket game in Chicago. I believe that the people can thank me for the fact that gang killings here are probably a thing of the past.”

 

“All I ever did was sell beer and whiskey to our best people. All I ever did was supply a demand that was pretty popular. Why, the very guys that make my trade good are the ones that yell the loudest about me. Some of the leading judges use the stuff.”

 

“I’m the boss. I’m going to continue to run things. They’ve been putting the roscoe on me for a good many years and I’m still healthy and happy. Don’t let anybody kid you into thinking I can be run out of town. I haven’t run yet and I’m not going to.”

 

“I never stuck up a man in my life. Neither did any of my agents ever rob anybody or burglarize any homes while they worked for me. They might have pulled plenty of jobs before they came with me or after they left me, but not while they were in my outfit.”

 

“Why, do you know America’s on the verge of its greatest social upheaval? Communism is knocking at our gates–we can’t afford to let it in! We must keep the American worker away from Red literature & Red ruses.”

 

“It’s pretty tough when a citizen with an unblemished record must be hounded from his home by the very policemen whose salaries are paid, at least in part, from the victim’s pocket. You might say that every policeman in Chicago gets some of his bread and butter from the taxes I pay.”

 

“People who respect nothing dread fear. It is upon fear, therefore, that I have built up my organization. But understand me correctly, please. Those who work with me are afraid of nothing. Those who work for me are kept faithful, not so much because of their pay as because they know what might be done with them if they broke faith.”

 

“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.”

 

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