The Sting Cunning and Cleverness Quotes

How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from The Sting.

Quote #1

HENRY GONDORFF: Nice con, Hickey. I thought you were Feds myself when you first came in.

In the final scene, Henry can't help but admire how good a job Hickey has done of impersonating an FBI officer. This is probably the point at which most of us are all like, "Woah, I didn't see that coming."

Quote #2

GREER: He lost it to a coupla' con artists on his way outta the spot.

Greer is pretty matter-of-fact when he says that his man Mottolla has lost a ton of mob money after leaving a bookie's joint. It's almost as if he takes it for granted that the world of the 1930s is filled with all kinds of conmen. Which makes sense, really, since it's the middle of the Great Depression and people are looking for all kinds of ways to get money.

Quote #3

MOTTOLA: I just made the world's easiest five grand.

Mottola thinks he's pretty smart after taking five thousand off of poor old Luther. What he doesn't realize, though, is that he's the one who's just been conned. And when you look back over this whole movie, you realize that this is the genius of most cons—making the other person think that they've actually conned you.