The Godfather Quotes

I'll make him an offer he can't refuse.

Friendship is everything. Friendship is more than talent. It is more than the government. It is almost the equal of family.- Don Corleone.

Great men are not born great, they grow great . ..

Revenge is a dish that tastes best when served cold.

A friend should always underestimate your virtues and an enemy overestimate your faults.

A man who doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man.

The lawyer with the briefcase can steal more money than the man with the gun.

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.

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.

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.

Never let anyone know what you are thinking.

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.

Behind every successful fortune there is a crime.

Many young men started down a false path to their true destiny. Time and fortune usually set them aright.

Lawyers can steal more money with a briefcase than a thousand men with guns and masks." -Don Vito Corleone.

A man who is not a father to his children can never be a real man,.

Why should I be afraid now? Strange men have come to kill me ever since I was twelve years old.

We are all honorable men here, we do not have to give each other assurances as if we were lawyers.

There are things that have to be done and you do them and you never talk about them. You don't try to justify them. They can't be justified. You just do them. Then you forget it.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

He should be careful. It's dangerous to be an honest man.

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.

Woman and children can afford to be careless, men can not"-Don Corleone.

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.

When they come... they come at what you love.

Revenge is a dish which taste best when served cold.

Forgive. Forget. Life is full of misfortunes.

Friendship is more than talent. It is more than government. It is almost the equal of family. Never forget that. If you had built up a wall of friendship you wouldn't have to ask me to help. - Don Corleone.

Behind every great fortune there is a crime.

Mothers are like cops. They always believe the worst.

She emptied her mind of all thought of herself, of her children, of all anger, of all rebellion, of all questions. Then with a profound and deeply willed desire to believe, to be heard, as she had done every day since the murder of Carlo Rizzi, she said the necessary prayers for the soul of Michael Corleone.

And in that fraction of a second before anything actually happened, Santino Corleone knew he was a dead man.

Tell my father I wish to be his son. -Michael Corleone.

You let women dictate your actions and they are not competent in this world, though certainly they will be saints in heaven while we men burn in hell.

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.

You lived like a fool and you have come to a fool’s end.

A man who is not a father to his children can never be a real man.

great men are not born great, they grow great,.

She was the only person in the world who could make him act against his own nature.

He claimed that 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.

Jack Woltz: Now you listen to me, you smooth-talking son-of-a-bitch, let me lay it on the line for you and your boss, whoever he is! Johnny Fontane will never get that movie! I don't care how many dago guinea wop greaseball goombahs come out of the woodwork! Tom Hagen: I'm German-Irish. Jack Woltz: Well, let me tell you something, my kraut-mick friend, I'm gonna make so much trouble for you, you won t know what hit you! Tom Hagen: Mr. Woltz, I'm a lawyer. I have not threatened you.