In the Victorian vernacular, a gentleman thief or lady thief (called phantom thief in the East) is a particularly well-behaving and apparently well bred thief. A "gentleman or lady" is usually, but not always, a person with an inherited title of nobility and inherited wealth, who need not work for a living. Such a person steals not in order to gain material wealth, but for adventure; they act without malice. These thieves rarely bother with anonymity or force, preferring to rely on their charisma, physical attractiveness, and clever misdirection to steal the most unobtainable objects — sometimes for their own support, but mostly for the thrill of the act itself.
Read more about Gentleman Thief: In Popular Culture, In Real Life
Famous quotes containing the words gentleman and/or thief:
“A gentleman does not begrudge a lowly persons trespasses.”
—Chinese proverb.
“A woman hostage
will call a young thief hero
and look at him with love,
even if shes lost her mind with grief
because her family
has been slaughtered.
As far as virtues go,
who can hold a grudge?”
—Hla Stavhana (c. 50 A.D.)