To Catch a Thief quotes

View Quote Bertani: There will be many women, rich jewels.
Robie: Just the bait I need.
Bertani: Something the Cat can't resist, huh?

View Quote Danielle: Don't you think it's foolish to remain here without knowing what will happen to you? But if you were in South America with me, you will know exactly what will happen.
Robie: You make it sound dangerous either way.
Danielle: It would be so much nicer to be killed by love, no?
Robie: Ah, pardon me while I get the water out of my ear.
Danielle: John, you know what sort of men they are at Bretani's. Another robbery and they will do something to you.
Robie: Well, I'd better get back.
Danielle: [about Francie] But what has she got more than me - except money, and you are getting plenty of that.
Robie: Danielle, you are just a girl. She is a woman.
Danielle: Why do you want to buy an old car if you can get a new one cheaper? It will run better and last longer.
Robie: Well, it looks as if my old car just drove off.
Francie: No, it hasn't, it's just turned amphibious. I thought I'd come out and see what the big attraction was.
Robie: Yes.
Francie: And possibly even rate an introduction.
Robie: [to Danielle] Oh, uh, you didn't tell me your name.
Danielle: Danielle Foussard.
Robie: Miss Foussard - Miss Stevens.
Francie: How do you do, Miss Foussard. Mr. Burns has told me so little about you.
Robie: Well, we only met a couple of minutes ago.
Danielle: That's right, only a few minutes ago.
Francie: Only a few minutes ago? And you talk like old friends. Ah well, that's warm, friendly France for you.
Robie: [to Frances] I was asking about renting some water-skis. Would you like me to teach you how to water ski?
Francie: Thank you, but I was women's champion at Sarasota, Florida last season.
Robie: Well, it was just an idea.
Francie: Are you sure you were talking about water-skis? From where I sat, it looked as though you were conjugating some irregular verbs.
Robie: Say something nice to her, Danielle.
Danielle: She looks a lot older, up close.
Robie: Ohhh -
Francie: To a mere child, anything over twenty might seem old.
Danielle: A child? Shall we stand in shallower water and discuss that?
Francie: Enjoying yourself, Mr. Burns?
Robie: Oh yes, it's very nice out here, with the sun and all.
Francie: Well, it's too much for me. I'll see you at the hotel.
Robie: [laughing nervously] I'll go with you.
Danielle: But Mr. Burns, you didn't finish telling me why French women are more seductive than American women?
Robie: I know what I'd like to tell you!

View Quote Danielle: I was just thinking about you, imagining you in your expensive villa enjoying life, while we work like idiots for a loaf of bread.
Robie: I work for a living too - raising grapes and flowers.
Danielle: And rubies, and diamonds, and pearls...I've always dreamed of going to South America. People say it's a virgin country. I can cook, sew, keep my mouth shut and peddle stolen jewels on the black market...

View Quote Francie: [about why she never wears jewelry] I don't like cold things touching my skin.
Robie: Why don't you invent some hot diamonds?
Francie: I'd rather spend my money on more tangible excitement.
Robie: Tell me, what do you get a thrill out of most?
Francie: I'm still looking for that one...
Robie: You are husband-hunting after all.
Francie: That wasn't jealousy you heard working, merely disappointment in your limited imagination. Teenaged French girls yet. Oh, I bet you snowed her under. The big handsome lumberman from America. I'll bet you told her all your trees were Sequoias.
Robie: You know, that certainly sounds like jealousy to me. Don't be ashamed of it - let it out.
Francie: You're somewhat egotistical.
Robie: Fighting fire with fire. Miss Stevens.
Francie: Yes, Mr. Burns.
Robie: You know what I think?
Francie: About what?
Robie: You.
Francie: I don't really care... Tell me.
Robie: You're an insecure, pampered woman accustomed to attracting men. But you're not quite sure whether they're attracted to you or to your money. You may never know.
Francie: Anything else?
Robie: What you need is something I have neither the time nor the inclination to give you.
Francie: Oh, and just what is that?
Robie: Two weeks with a good man at Niagara Falls.

View Quote Francie: Do you have time for me, now?
Robie: I'm sorry I was so long out there at the float.
Francie: From what I saw of that girl, I thought you'd be a lot longer.

View Quote Francie: Do you want a leg or a breast?
Robie: You make the choice.

View Quote Francie: I called the police from your room and told them who you are and everything you've been doing tonight.
Robie: Everything? The boys must have really enjoyed that at headquarters!

View Quote Francie: I had the funny feeling that all they wanted was to get their hands on my money.
Robie: Oh, I'm impressed. Well, on second thought, back home in Oregon, we'd have called you a rich, headstrong girl. That would have made it all right.
Francie: Money handles most people.
Robie: Do you honestly believe that?
Francie: I've proved it.
Robie: You're a singular girl.
Francie: Is that good or bad?
Robie: Oh, it's good, it's quite good. You know what you want. You go out after it and nothing stops you from getting it.
Francie: You make it sound corny.
Robie: Oh no, you're a jackpot of admirable character traits.
Francie: I already knew that.
Robie: Yes, I will say you do things with dispatch. No wasted preliminaries. Not only did I enjoy that kiss last night, I was awed by the efficiency behind it.
Francie: Well, I'm a great believer of getting down to essentials.
Robie: What do you expect out of me?
Francie: Probably a lot more than you're willing to offer.

View Quote Francie: I think Lady Kenton should be our next job.
Robie: Now listen. [He firmly grabs her wrist]
Francie: Isn't she on your list? She ought to be. Kenton jewels are famous. I know every inch of her villa.
Robie: I can already hear your next line.
Francie: The Cat has a new kitten. When do we start?
Robie: Don't talk like that.
Francie: You're leaving fingerprints on my arm.
Robie: I am not John Robie the Cat.

View Quote Francie: I've been waiting all day for you to mention that kiss I gave you last night.
Robie: You know, back home in Oregon, we'd call you a headstrong girl.
Francie: Where in Oregon, the Rogue River?
Robie: Where were you born?
Francie: In a taxi halfway between home and the hospital. I've lived in twenty-seven different towns and cities.
Robie: Was somebody chasing you?
Francie: Boys.
Robie: Well, you can stop running now.

View Quote Francie: I've never caught a jewel thief before. It's stimulating. It's like...
Robie: ...like sitting in a hot tub?

View Quote Francie: If you really want to see fireworks, it's better with the lights out. [She turns off the lamps in the room one by one] I have a feeling that tonight, you're going to see one of the Riviera's most fascinating sights...I was talking about the fireworks.
Robie: I never doubted it.
Francie: The way you looked at my necklace, I didn't know. You've been dying to say something about it all evening. Go ahead.
Robie: Why, have I been staring at it?
Francie: No, you've been trying to avoid it.
Robie: May I have a brandy?
Francie: Please.
Robie: Do you care for one?
Francie: No. thank you. Some nights a person doesn't need to drink. Doesn't it make you nervous to be in the same room with thousands of dollars' worth of diamonds and unable to touch them?
Robie: No.
Francie: Like an alcoholic outside of a bar on election day.
Robie: [He laughs] Wouldn't know the feeling.
Francie: All right. You've studied the layout, drawn your plans, worked out your timetable, put on your dark clothes with your crepe-soled shoes and your rope. Maybe your face blackened. And you're over the roofs in the darkness, down the side wall to the right apartment, and the window's locked. All that elation turned into frustration. What would you do?
Robie: I'd go home, get a good night's sleep.
Francie: Oh, what would you do? [She steps into the darkness that hides only her face] The thrill is right there in front of you, but you can't quite get it - and the gems glistening on the other side of the window, and someone asleep, breathing heavily.
Robie: I'd go home, get a good night's sleep.
Francie: Wouldn't you use a glass cutter, a brick, your fist - anything to get what you wanted? Knowing it was just there waiting for you?
Robie: [He sips his brandy] Oh, forget it.
Francie: Drinking dulls your senses.
Robie: Yeah, and if I'm lucky, some of my hearing.
Francie: [She fondles her necklace] Blue-white with just hairlike touches of platinum.
Robie: You know, I have about the same interest in jewelry that I have in politics, horseracing, modern poetry, or women who need weird excitement: none.
Francie: Hold this necklace in your hand and tell me you're not John Robie, 'the Cat.' John, tell me something. You're going to rob that villa we cased this afternoon, aren't you? Oh, I suppose 'rob' is archaic. You'd say, 'knock over'?
Robie: Oh -
Francie: Don't worry, I'm very good at secrets.
Robie: Tell me, have you ever been on a psychiatrist's couch?
Francie: Don't change the subject. I know the perfect time to do it: Next week, the Sanfords are holding their annual gala. Everyone who counts will be there. I'll get you an invitation. It's an 18th-century costume affair. There will be thousands upon thousands of dollars' worth of the world's most elegant jewelry. Some of the guests will be staying for the weekend. We'll get all the information, and we'll do it together. What do you say?
Robie: My only comment would be highly censorable.
Francie: [She sits alluringly on the couch, displaying both her necklace and bare decolletage] Give up, John. Admit who you are. Even in this light, I can tell where your eyes are looking. [He sits down] Look, John. Hold them. Diamonds. Only thing in the world you can't resist. Then tell me you don't know what I'm talking about. [She kisses his fingers, one by one, then puts her necklace in the palm of his hand] Ever had a better offer in your whole life? One with everything?
Robie: I've never had a crazier one.
Francie: Just as long as you're satisfied.
Robie: You know as well as I do this necklace is imitation.
Francie: Well, I'm not. [They kiss]

View Quote Francie: Let me do something to help you.
Robie: Oh, no thanks. Now you've just made your apologies. Let's just go back to our mutual disregard of each other, hmm?
Francie: Mr. Robie. I was wrong about you, I think. You might possibly be wrong about me.
Robie: Well now, that's another thing that I may never know. If you'll pardon me...[He turns to leave - and she grabs his arm]
Francie: I won't pardon you. I'm in love with you!
Robie: That's a ridiculous thing to say.
Francie: Is it?
Robie: To you, words are just playthings.
Francie: [pouting] Word playthings.
Robie: I'll make you a sporting, exciting offer.
Francie: I don't know if I'm up to it now.

View Quote Francie: Maybe Mr. Houston doesn't care for gambling.
Mrs. Stevens: Everyone likes to gamble in one way or another, even you!
Francie: I have an intense dislike for it.
Mrs. Stevens: [looking at the men in the room] Francie, dear, when the stakes are right, you'll gamble!

View Quote Francie: Oh, John, you left in such a hurry you almost ran.
Robie: I had work to do up here.
Francie: Were you afraid to admit that you just can't do everything by yourself and that you needed the help of a good woman? And you just aren't the lone wolf you think you are.
Robie: All right. Without you, I couldn't have done. I needed the help of a woman. I guess I'm not the lone wolf I thought I was, Francie.
Francie: Well, I just wanted to hear you say that. Thank you. [She extends her hand] Goodbye.
Robie: Goodbye. [He pulls her arm toward him for an embrace and kiss]
Francie: [opening her eyes] So this is where you live. Oh, Mother will love it up here!