The Godfather Quotes

“Friendship is everything. Friendship is more than talent. It is more than the government. It is almost the equal of family.- Don Corleone”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“Great men are not born great, they grow great . . .”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“Revenge is a dish that tastes best when served cold.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“A friend should always underestimate your virtues and an enemy overestimate your faults”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgment.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“The lawyer with the briefcase can steal more money than the man with the gun.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“You cannot say 'no' to the people you love, not often. That's the secret. And then when you do, it has to sound like a 'yes'. Or you have to make them say 'no.' You have to take time and trouble.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“I don't trust society to protect us, I have no intention of placing my fate in the hands of men whose only qualification is that they managed to con a block of people to vote for them.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“Italians have a little joke, that the world is so hard a man must have two fathers to look after him, and that's why they have godfathers.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“A man who doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“Tom, don't let anybody kid you. It's all personal, every bit of business. Every piece of shit every man has to eat every day of his life is personal. They call it business. OK. But it's personal as hell. You know where I learned that from? The Don. My old man. The Godfather. If a bolt of lightning hit a friend of his the old man would take it personal. He took my going into the Marines personal. That's what makes him great. The Great Don. He takes everything personal Like God. He knows every feather that falls from the tail of a sparrow or however the hell it goes? Right? And you know something? Accidents don't happen to people who take accidents as a personal insult.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“He smelled the garden, the yellow shield of light smote his eyes, and he whispered, "Life is so beautiful."
...
Yes, he thought, if I can die saying, "Life is so beautiful," then nothing else is important.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“Accidents don't happen to people who take accidents as a personal insult.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“Many young men started down a false path to their true destiny. Time and fortune usually set them aright.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. From "The Godfather".”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“there was no greater natural advantage in life than having an enemy overestimate your faults, unless it was to have a friend underestimate your virtues.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“We are all honorable men here, we do not have to give each other assurances as if we were lawyers.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“Lawyers can steal more money with a briefcase than a thousand men with guns and masks."

-Don Vito Corleone”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“Why should I be afraid now? Strange men have come to kill me ever since I was twelve years old.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“You can't hide the thunderbolt. When it hits you, everybody can see it. Christ, man, don't be ashamed of it, some men pray for the thunderbolt. You're a very lucky fellow. - Calo”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“He had long ago learned that society imposes insults that must be borne, comforted by the knowledge that in this world there comes a time when the most humble of men, if he keeps his eyes open, can take his revenge on the most powerful. It was this knowledge that prevented the Don from losing the humility all his friends admired in him.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“It was a lie but he believed in telling lies to people. Truth telling and medicine just didn't go together except in dire emergencies, if then.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“I'll make him an offer he can't refuse.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“Michael could never remember his father ever having uttered a word about death, as if the Don respected death too much to philosophize about it.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“Yet, he thought, if I can die saying, "Life is so beautiful," then nothing else is important. If i can believe in myself that much, nothing else matters.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“It was not perhaps the warmest friendship in the world, they would not send each other Christmas gift greetings, but they would not murder each other.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“No, that's not possible," Michael said. "Killed, yes; jail, no.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“The other Dons in the room applauded and rose to shake hands with everybody in sight and to congratulate Don Corleone and Don Tattaglia on their new friendship. It was not perhaps the warmest friendship in the world, they would not send each other Christmas gift greetings, but they would not murder each other. That was friendship enough in this world, all that was needed.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“And in that fraction of a second before anything actually happened, Santino Corleone knew he was a dead man.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather