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.
J. Edgar Hoover

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

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.
J. Edgar Hoover

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

Justice is incidental to law and order.
J. Edgar Hoover

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

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

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