Joseph Wambaugh

“The true story is not the one you tell, it's the one you don't.”

“All the best cop stories are love stories.”

“There's nothing more boring than a guy with a message.”

“Good cops are a little paranoid.”

“You can't really call a guy a writer unless he's written a book.”

“I started writing because I had a need to tell stories, a need to connect with people.”

“The police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.”

“A writer has to be a bit of a chameleon.”

“Hollywood is a place where they'll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul.”

“A good cop is a guy who can be a social worker, a priest, a psychologist, and a warrior, all in one day.”

“I have no ax to grind. I'm not a crusader. I'm a storyteller.”

“The first duty of a cop is to protect the powerless from the powerful.”

“The job of the police is to be the domestic military of the middle class.”

“Cops are the biggest gossips in the world.”