Pablo Escobar was bold. Of course, he was bold – he was known as the King of Cocaine! Pablo Escobar was a Colombian drug lord that is now known as the richest criminal in the world. Even after his death, his estate amassed upwards of 59 billion dollars as of 2019.
He and his cartel, the Medellin Cartel, controlled 80 percent of the cocaine that was smuggled into the United States during their reign. Escobar was revered as a Robin Hood type by the common people of Columbia and yet, vilified by the Colombian police and authorities.
Escobar did many public works for the poor people of his country but was also responsible for Colombia having the highest murder rate in the world due to his cartel’s control. Pablo Escobar was killed by the police in 1993. Even though he was a powerful drug lord, more than 25,000 people attended his funeral.
Whether we agree with his actions in life or not, we might be able to agree that Pablo Escobar was one bold guy. He took chances and flouted the law in ways that most ordinary citizens would only dream of seeing or doing.
Pablo has been so revered that he has become the star of various film and music projects. Here are some of his greatest quotes and other killer lines from DEA agent Steve Murphy about Escobar from the show Narcos, the Netflix series which is loosely based around Pablo Escobar’s life.
Pablo Escobar Quotes
- “We have to create a presence so disruptive they’ll want nothing but peace.”–Pablo Escobar
- “Everyone has a price, the important thing is to find out what it is.”–Pablo Escobar
- “Sometimes I feel like God…when I order someone killed – they die the same day.”–Pablo Escobar
- “There can only be one king.”–Pablo Escobar
- “The bad guys need to get lucky every time. The good guys just need to get lucky once.” –Steve Murphy
- “There is a time to fight and there is a time to be clever.”–Pablo Escobar
- “We can go someplace else. I hear Switzerland is very beautiful.”–Pablo Escobar “In Switzerland, we are nobody, Pablo. What good is having all the money in the world if you can’t go home?”–Tata Escobar
- “I can replace things, but I could never replace my wife and kids.”–Pablo Escobar
- “This is my city, Limón. These are my people. Medellín will never betray me.”–Pablo Escobar
- “Life is full of surprises, some good, some not so good.”–Pablo Escobar
- “There are two hundred million idiots, manipulated by a million intelligent men.”–Pablo Escobar
- “They may separate us, but they’ll never be able to destroy us.”–Pablo Escobar
- “If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the narco world, it’s that life is more complicated than you think. Good and bad, they’re relative concepts.”–Steve Murphy
- “I prefer to be in the grave in Colombia than in a jail cell in the United States.”–Pablo Escobar
- “The men of always aren’t interested in the children of never.”–Pablo Escobar
- “Only those who went hungry with me and stood by me when I went through a bad time at some point in life will eat at my table.”–Pablo Escobar
- “No one wants war, Carlito. Especially when they know they would lose.”–Pablo Escobar
- “I want you to run my day-to-day operations.”–Pablo Escobar “And you’ll do what?”–Gustavo Gaviria “Liberate Columbia.”–Pablo Escobar
- “Imagine you were born in a poor family, in a poor city, in a poor country, and by the time you were 28 years old, you have so much money you can’t even count it. What do you do? You make your dreams come true.”–Steve Murphy
- “I have always considered myself a happy man. I’ve always been happy, I’ve always been optimistic, I’ve always had faith in life because I think the most difficult times always bring something. It brings experience, and it’s the greatest thing to have in life.”–Pablo Escobar
- “Geniuses are always branded as crazy.”–Pablo Escobar
- “There is nothing lower than a rat. And if we let the rats run free, the streets will be filled with them.”–Pablo Escobar
- “All empires are created by blood and fire.”–Pablo Escobar
- “I turned myself in to that punk, the vice minister of justice. But since there is no justice in this country, he is the vice minister of nothing.”–Pablo Escobar
- “In modern business, it is not the crook who is to be feared most, it is the honest man who doesn’t know what he is doing.”–Pablo Escobar
- “Despite his threats, many brave men defied him. And, true to form, when the pen failed … Pablo was always ready with the sword.”–Steve Murphy
- “I’m sometimes accused of drug trafficking. It’s an activity that for the time being, historically, shall we say has been declared illegal. It’s illegal at the moment, but in the long run and in the future, we’re going to show that it will head toward legalization.”–Pablo Escobar
- “When you kill someone, you lose all your leverage the moment they’re dead. Now, you take someone’s children away from them, you’d be amazed what they’d do to get them back.”–Steve Murphy
- “The purpose of war is peace.”–Pablo Escobar
- “I’ll die before I ever leave Colombia again.”–Pablo Escobar
- “There’s cash buried everywhere. The guerillas, the paramilitary, the narcos… Everybody’s burying cash.”–Pablo Escobar
- “Best way to make a bad story go away is to come up with a better story, and sell it hard.”–Steve Murphy
- “I’m a decent man who exports flowers.”-Pablo Escobar
- “I am not a rich person. I am a poor person with money.”–Pablo Escobar
- “Silver or lead. You decide.”–Pablo Escobar
- “The thing about war is, it’s just bad for business. And when you got a bull’s-eye on your back, your rivals get bold.”–Steve Murphy
- “Dirty money is in all economic sectors of the country.”–Pablo Escobar
- “I would like to die on my own two feet. In the year 3047.”–Pablo Escobar
- [to his son] “Your dad did nothing wrong.”–Pablo Escobar
- “In all the years I chased Escobar, I could count on one hand the times we almost had him. And each time, we forgot the two most important things we already knew about him: Close doesn’t count. And Pablo is never more dangerous than when you almost have him.”–Steve Murphy
- “I am Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria. My eyes are everywhere. That means you guys can’t move a finger in all of Antioquia without me knowing about it. Do you understand? Not a finger. One day, I’m going to be president of the Republic of Colombia. So look, I make deals for a living. Now, you can stay calm and accept my deal, or accept the consequences.”–Pablo Escobar
- “Lies are necessary when the truth is too difficult to believe.”–Pablo Escobar
- “To have power does not mean that one can abuse the poor.”–Pablo Escobar
- “I know every centimeter of these mountains. From here, we can see anything coming. And we have enough space to build whatever we want. We’re going to design it… we’re going to build it… and we will be protected from all our enemies.”–Pablo Escobar “You want to build a jail?”–Gustavo Gaviria “Not a jail, cousin. A castle.”–Pablo Escobar
- “We all need a method. Something to cling to when the s–t around us gets so deep, we might go under. Something to guide us home when we feel we’ve lost our way. If we’re lucky, someone gives us a method and we follow it. If not, we find our own.”–Steve Murphy
- “There is no business like blow business.”–Pablo Escobar
- “I’ll never surrender.”–Pablo Escobar
- “I’ll give you one million dollars. Under one condition.”–Pablo Escobar “What is it?”–Herrera DAS Agent “Someone in my organization gave you the street value of my cocaine. Otherwise, how would you know? [pauses] Give me a name. And you won’t have to split the cash with him.”–Pablo Escobar
- “I don’t want to be good. I am going to be great.”–Pablo Escobar
- “Nowadays, the US government can listen to anything you say. They know where you are, they know who you’re talking to, and trust me, they know who you’re f–king. You turn on a cell phone or a computer, and you’re doomed. But in Colombia in 1989, it wasn’t that easy. First off, there was no Internet. No cells. The best they had were satellite phones, and in order to capture a satellite phone, you had to fly directly over it. On top of that, the only people who had sat phones were the filthy rich, the landowners, the politicians. And lucky for us, the narcos were richer than them all.”–Steve Murphy
- “They may separate us, but they’ll never be able to destroy us.”–Pablo Escobar
- “Would you have really fed me to those hippos?”–Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo “No. Hippos don’t like Mexicans either.”–Pablo Escobar
Related: Genghis Khan’s Fiercest Quotes
Pablo Escobar was an Interesting and Dangerous Criminal
Pablo Escobar and the men like Steve Murphy who came up against him were bold fighting men.
Let these quotes inspire you to take a stand for what you believe in. Always remember where you came from and do good to the people who need you.
Image Credit: Wikimedia
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