“The petty thief is imprisoned but the big thief becomes a feudal lord.”
Source: The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu
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Zhuangzi 38
classic Chinese philosopher -369–-286 BCRelated quotes

“You're an awful little guy to be such a big thief.”
Addressing Pittsburgh Pirates' right fielder Paul Waner between innings at Forbes Field on Thursday, May 23, 1935, just moments after having his extra base bid foiled by Waner's spectacular catch (and just 2 days before hitting the final three home runs of his major league career, including the first ever to clear Forbes Field's RF roof); as quoted in "Mirrors of Sport: The Babe" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=UYhRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IGkDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1757%2C1439317&dq=after-victimized-awful-guy-such-big-thief by Havey Boyle, in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (May 24, 1935), p. 18

“Set a thief to catch a thief.”
Epigram 43; translation by Robert Allason Furness, from Poems of Callimachus (1931), p. 103
Epigrams

“4106. Set a Thief to catch a Thief.”
Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727), Gnomologia (1732)

“4788. The Thief is sorry he is to be hanged, but not that he is a Thief.”
Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727), Gnomologia (1732)

The Washington Times (6 December 2005) " Inside Politics http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20051206-120426-6182r_page2.htm"

“Do not despair: one thief was saved. Do not presume: one thief was damned.”
Attributed to St. Augustine in The Repentance of Robert Greene, Master of Arts http://www.oxford-shakespeare.com/Greene/Repentance_Robert_Greene.pdf (1592) by Robert Greene.
Disputed
Variant: Do not despair; one of the thieves was saved. Do not presume; one of the thieves was damned.

“Once a thief, always a thief, only now I steal from the enemy.”
Sharpe (Novel Series), Sharpe's Escape (2003)
Context: Until two days ago,' she went on suddenly, 'I thought that my life depended on other people. On employers. Now I think it depends on me. You taught me that. But I still need money.'
'Money's easy,' said Sharpe dismissively.
'That is not the conventional wisdom,' Sarah said drily.
'Steal the stuff,' Sharpe said.
'You were really a thief?'
'Still am. Once a thief, always a thief, only now I steal from the enemy. And some day I'll have enough to stop me from doing it and then I'll have to stop others from thieving from me.'
'You have a simple view of life.'
'You're born, you survive, you die,' Sharpe said. 'What's hard about that?