It takes a thief to catch a thief

1. Only a thief knows how a thief thinks and acts.

Example Sentences

The saying “It takes a thief to catch a thief” wasn’t just a saying for Vidocq—it was his whole strategy.

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“It takes a thief to catch a thief,” the accountant said.

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“Sometimes it takes a devil to catch the Devil. It takes a thief to catch a thief. Sometimes it takes that. And I’m not sure we have that on the platform right now,” she said.

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To his aghast brains trust, the cynical and cagey Roosevelt said “it takes a thief to catch a thief.”

Read more on Seattle Times

You can argue what Franklin Roosevelt is said to have remarked when he appointed Joe Kennedy as first chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission: that it takes a thief to catch a thief.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal