Gentleman Thief

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.

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Famous quotes containing the words gentleman and/or thief:

    In proceeding to the dining-room, the gentleman gives one arm to the lady he escorts—it is unusual to offer both.
    Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)

    If some beggar steals a bridle
    he’ll be hung by a man who’s stolen a horse.
    There’s no surer justice in the world than that
    which makes the rich thief hang the poor one.
    Peire Cardenal (c. 1180–1272)