J. Edgar Hoover

Above all, I would teach him to tell the truth Truth-telling, I have found, is the key to responsible citizenship. The thousands of criminals I have seen in 40 years of law enforcement have had one thing in common: Every single one was a liar.

I regret to say that we of the FBI are powerless to act in cases of oral-genital intimacy, unless it has in some way obstructed interstate commerce.

The cure for crime is not the electric chair, but the high chair.

Justice is incidental to law and order.

Just the minute the FBI begins making recommendations on what should be done with its information, it becomes a Gestapo.

Banks are an almost irresistible attraction for that element of our society which seeks unearned money.

We are a fact-gathering organization only. We don't clear anybody. We don't condemn anybody.

Justice is merely incidental to law and order.

No amount of law enforcement can solve a problem that goes back to the family.