The Godfather Quotations

The Godfather is a 1972 film about a Mafia crime family and the outbreak of a New York City gang war in the late 1940s.

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Written by Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's novel.

Don Vito Corleone

[Speaking to Tom Hagen after Sonny is killed] I want no inquiries made. I want no acts of vengeance. I want you to arrange a meeting with the heads of the Five Families. This war stops now.

[Talking to Johnny Fontane about Jack Woltz] I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse.
- Note: ranked #2 in the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema.

Bonasera

I believe in America. America has made my fortune. And I raised my daughter in the American fashion. I gave her freedom, but I taught her never to dishonor her family. She found a boyfriend; not an Italian. She went to the movies with him; she stayed out late. I didn't protest. Two months ago, he took her for a drive, with another boyfriend. They made her drink whiskey. And then they tried to take advantage of her. She resisted. She kept her honor. So they beat her, like an animal. When I went to the hospital, her nose was a'broken. Her jaw was a'shattered, held together by wire. She couldn't even weep because of the pain. But I wept. Why did I weep? She was the light of my life, a beautiful girl. Now she will never be beautiful again. I went to the police, like a good American. These two boys were brought to trial. The judge sentenced them to three years in prison – suspended sentence. Suspended sentence! They went free that very day! I stood in the courtroom like a fool. And those two bastards, they smiled at me. Then I said to my wife, for justice, we must go to Don Corleone.

Dialogue

Don Corleone: Why did you go to the police? Why didn't you come to me first?

Bonasera: What do you want of me? Tell me anything, but do what I beg you to do.

Don Corleone: What is that? [Bonasera whispers his request in the Don's ear] That I cannot do.

Bonasera: I will give you anything you ask.

Don Corleone: We've known each other many years, but this is the first time you ever came to me for counsel or for help. I can't remember the last time that you invited me to your house for a cup of coffee, even though my wife is godmother to your only child. But let's be frank here. You never wanted my friendship. And, uh, you were afraid to be in my debt.

Bonasera: I didn't want to get into trouble.

Don Corleone: I understand. You found paradise in America, you had a good trade, you made a good living. The police protected you and there were courts of law. And you didn't need a friend like me. But, uh, now you come to me, and you say: "Don Corleone, give me justice." But you don't ask with respect. You don't offer friendship. You don't even think to call me Godfather. Instead, you come into my house on the day my daughter is to be married, and you ask me to do murder for money.

Bonasera: I ask for justice.

Don Corleone: That is not justice. Your daughter is still alive.

Bonasera: Let them suffer then, as she suffers. How much shall I pay you?

Don Corleone: Bonasera, Bonasera. What have I ever done to make you treat me so disrespectfully? If you'd come to me in friendship, then this scum that wounded your daughter would be suffering this very day. And if by chance an honest man like yourself should make enemies, then they would become my enemies. And then they would fear you.

Bonasera: Be my friend – Godfather.

[The Don shrugs, Bonasera bows toward the Don and kisses the Don's hand]

Don Corleone: Good. Someday, and that day may never come, I'll call upon you to do a service for me. But until that day – accept this justice as a gift on my daughter's wedding day.

Bonasera: Grazie, Godfather.

Don Corleone: Prego. Give this to, uh, Clemenza. I want reliable people, people who aren't going to be carried away. After all, we're not murderers, in spite of what this undertaker thinks.

Kay: Michael, you never told me your family knew Johnny Fontane!

Michael: Oh sure, you want to meet him?

Kay: Yeah!

Michael: You know, my father helped Johnny in his career.

Kay: Really? How?

Michael: … Let's listen to this song.

Kay: [after listening to Johnny for a while] Please, Michael. Tell me.

Michael: Well, when Johnny was first starting out, he was signed to this contract with a big-band leader. And as his career got better and better he wanted to get out of it. Now, Johnny is my father's godson. My father went to see the bandleader, and offered him $10,000 to let Johnny go, but the bandleader said no. So the next day, my father went to see the bandleader again, only this time with Luca Brasi. Within an hour, the bandleader signed the release, with a certified check of $1,000.

Kay: How did he do that?

Michael: My father made him an offer he couldn't refuse.

Kay: What was that?

Michael: Luca Brasi held a gun to his head, and my father assured him that either his brains or his signature would be on the contract.

[Kay stares at Michael in disbelief]

Michael: That's a true story. … That's my family, Kay, it's not me.

Johnny Fontane: A month ago, he bought the movie rights to this book. A best seller – and the main character, it's a guy just like me. I, uh, I wouldn't even have to act, just be myself. [tearing up] Oh, Godfather, I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do.

[Don Corleone stands up and shakes Johnny]

Don Corleone: [shouting] You can act like a man!

[Don Corleone slaps Johnny]

Don Corleone: What's the matter with you? Is this how you turned out? A Hollywood finocchio that cries like a woman?

[Don Corleone imitates him sobbing]

Don Corleone: "What can I do? What can I do?" What is that nonsense? Ridiculous. You spend time with your family?

Johnny Fontane: Sure I do.

Don Corleone: Good. 'Cause a man who doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man. Come here … you look terrible. I want you to eat. I want you to rest a while. And in a month from now, this Hollywood bigshot's gonna give you what you want.

Johnny Fontane: It's too late, they start shooting in a week.

Don Corleone: I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse. Now, you just go outside and enjoy yourself, and, uh, forget about all this nonsense. I want you – I want you to leave it all to me.

Don Corleone: [to Sollozzo] I must say no to you, and I'll give you my reasons. It's true, I have a lot of friends in politics, but they wouldn't be friendly very long if they knew my business was drugs instead of gambling, which they rule that as a – a harmless vice. But drugs is a dirty business. … It makes, it doesn't make any difference to me what a man does for a living, understand. But your business is, uh, a little dangerous.

Sollozzo: If you're worried about security for your million, the Tattaglias'll guarantee it.

Sonny: Aw, you're telling me that the Tattaglias guarantee our investment?

Don Corleone: I have a sentimental weakness for my children, and I spoil them, as you can see. They talk when they should listen.

[Sollozzo leaves after the Don wishes him luck]

Don Corleone: [to Sonny] Whatsa matter with you? I think your brain's goin' soft. … Never tell anybody outside the family what you're thinking again.

[Sonny opens a package to find two fish wrapped in Luca's bulletproof vest]

Sonny: What the hell is this?

Pete Clemenza: It's a Sicilian message. It means Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes.

Clemenza: He wants us to send Michael to hear the proposition. And the promise is that the deal is so good that we can't refuse.

Sonny: No more meetin's, no more discussions, no more Sollozzo tricks.

Michael: We can't wait. I don't care what Sollozzo says about a deal, he's gonna kill Pop, that's it. That's the key for him. Gotta get Sollozzo. They wanna have a meeting with me, right? It will be me, McCluskey, and Sollozzo. Let's set the meeting. Get our informers to find out where it's gonna be held. Now, we insist it's a public place, a bar, a restaurant, some place where there's people, so I feel safe. They're gonna search me when I first meet them, right? So I can't have a weapon on me then. But if Clemenza can figure a way to have a weapon planted there for me, then I'll kill 'em both.

[Everybody in the room begin to laugh]

Sonny: [Smiles] Hey, whatcha gonna do, nice college boy, eh? Didn't want to get mixed up in the Family business, huh? Now you wanna gun down a police captain 'cause he slapped ya in the face? Hah? What do you think this is? The Army, where you shoot 'em a mile away? You've gotta get up close like this and bada-bing, you blow their brains all over your nice Ivy League suit! Come here!

[Kisses Michael's head]

Michael: Sonny …

Sonny: You're taking this very personal. Tom, this is business and this man is taking it very personal.

Michael: Where does it say that you can't kill a cop? … I'm talking about a cop that's mixed up in drugs. I'm talking about a dishonest cop and a crooked cop who got mixed up in the rackets and got what was coming to him. That'd make a helluva story. Now, we got people in the newspapers, right, Tom? They might like a story like that.

Tom Hagen: They might; they just might.

Michael: It's not personal, Sonny. It's strictly business.

Don Corleone: [to the Heads of the Five Families] How did things ever get so far? I don't know. It was so unfortunate, so unnecessary. Tattaglia lost a son and I lost a son. We're quits. And if Tattaglia agrees, then I'm willing to let things go on the way they were before.

Don Barzini: We're all grateful to Don Corleone for calling this meeting. We all know him as a man of his word. A modest man who will always listen to reason.

Tattaglia: Yes, Barzini, he is too modest. He had all the judges and politicians in his pocket and refused to share them.

Don Corleone: When – when did I ever refuse an accommodation? All of you know me here. When did I ever refuse, except one time? And why? Because I believe this drug business is gonna destroy us in the years to come. I mean, it's not like gambling or liquor, even women, which is something that most people want nowadays and it's forbidden to them – by the church. Even the police departments have helped us in the past with gambling and other things. They're gonna refuse to help us when it comes to narcotics. And I believe that then, and I believe that now.

Don Barzini: Times have changed. It's not like the old days when we could do anything we want. A refusal is not the act of a friend. Don Corleone had all the judges and the politicians in New York, and he must share them. … He must let us draw the water from the well. Certainly, he can present a bill for such services. After all, we are not Communists.

[Laughter]

Don Corleone: I hoped that we would come here and reason together. And as a reasonable man, I'm willing to do whatever's necessary to find a peaceful solution to these problems.

Don Barzini: Then we are agreed. The traffic in drugs will be permitted, but controlled, and Don Corleone will give up protection in the East – and there will be the peace.

Tattaglia: But I must have strict assurance from Corleone. As time goes by and his position becomes stronger, will he attempt any individual vendetta?

Don Barzini: Look, we are all reasonable men here. We don't have to give assurances as if we were lawyers.

Don Corleone: You talk about vengeance. Is vengeance gonna bring your son back to you and my boy to me? I forgo all the vengeance in my son. But I have selfish reasons. [after saying that Michael is returning to the U.S.] I'm a superstitious man, and if some unlucky accident should befall him, if he should get shot in the head by a police officer, or if he should hang himself in his jail cell, or if he's struck by a bolt of lightning, then I'm going to blame some of the people in this room. And that, I do not forgive. But that aside, let me say that I swear on the souls of my grandchildren, that I will not be the one to break the peace that we have made here today.

Michael: I'm working for my father now. He's been sick, very sick.

Kay: But you're not like him, Michael. I thought you weren't going to become a man like your father. That's what you told me.

Michael: My father's no different than any other powerful man – any man who's responsible for other people, like a senator or a president.

Kay: [laughs] You know how naïve you sound?

Michael: Why?

Kay: Senators and presidents don't have men killed.

Michael: Oh, who's being naïve, Kay? Kay, my father's way of doing things is over, it's finished. Even he knows that. I mean, in five years, the Corleone Family is going to be completely legitimate. Trust me. That's all I can tell you about my business.

Michael: My credit good enough to buy you out?

Moe Greene: Buy me out?

[Fredo laughs nervously]

Michael: The casino, the hotel. The Corleone Family wants to buy you out.

Moe Greene: The Corleone Family wants to buy me out? No, I buy you out, you don't buy me out.

Michael: Your casino loses money. Maybe we can do better.

Moe Greene: You think I'm skimmin' off the top, Mike?

Michael: You're unlucky.

Moe Greene: You goddamn guineas really make me laugh. I do you a favor and take Freddie in when you're having a bad time, and then you try to push me out!

Michael: Wait a minute. You took Freddie in because the Corleone Family bankrolled your casino, because the Molinari Family on the Coast guaranteed his safety. Now, we're talking business. Let's talk business.

Moe Greene: Yeah, let's talk business, Mike. First of all, you're all done. The Corleone Family don't even have that kind of muscle anymore. The Godfather's sick, right? You're getting chased out of New York by Barzini and the other Families. What do you think is going on here? You think you can come to my hotel and take over? I talked to Barzini. I can make a deal with him, and still keep my hotel!

Michael: Is that why you slapped my brother around in public?

Fredo: Aw, now that, that was nothin', Mike. Now, now, uh, Moe didn't mean nothin' by that. Sure he flies off the handle once in a while, but Moe and me, we're good friends. Right, Moe? Huh?

Moe Greene: I got a business to run. I gotta kick asses sometimes to make it run right. We had a little argument, Freddy and I, so I had to straighten him out.

Michael: You straightened my brother out?

Moe Greene: He was banging cocktail waitresses two at a time! Players couldn't get a drink at the table! What's wrong with you?

Michael: I leave for New York tomorrow. Think about a price.

Moe Greene: Son of a bitch, do you know who I am? I'm Moe Greene! I made my bones when you were going out with cheerleaders!

Fredo: Wait a minute. Moe, Moe, I got an idea. Tom, you're the Consigliere and you can talk to the Don, you can explain …

Tom Hagen: Just a minute, now. The Don is semi-retired and Mike is in charge of the Family business now. If you have anything to say, say it to Michael.

[Moe Greene leaves]

Fredo: Mike! You don't come to Las Vegas and talk to a man like Moe Greene like that!

Michael: Fredo, you're my older brother, and I love you. But don't ever take sides with anyone against the Family again. Ever.

Don Corleone': So, Barzini will move against you first. He'll set up a meeting with someone that you absolutely trust, guaranteeing your safety, and at that meeting you'll be assassinated. … I like to drink wine more than I used to. Anyway, I'm drinking more.

Michael: It's good for you, Pop.

Don Corleone: Ah, I don't know. Your wife and your children, are you happy with them?

Michael: Very happy.

Don Corleone: That's good. I hope you don't mind the way I keep going over this Barzini business.

Michael: No, not at all.

Don Corleone: It's an old habit. I spent my life trying not to be careless. Women and children can be careless, but not men. How's your boy?

Michael: He's good.

Don Corleone: You know, he looks more like you everyday.

Michael: He's smarter than I am. Three years old and he can already read the funny papers.

Don Corleone: [laughs] Read the funny papers … Oh, I want you to arrange to have a telephone man check all the calls going in and out of here, because it could be anyone …

Michael: I did that already, Pop. I took care of that.

Don Corleone: Oh, that's right, I forgot.

Michael: What's the matter? What's bothering you? I'll handle it. I told you I can handle it, I'll handle it.

Don Corleone: I knew Santino was going to have to go through all this, and Fredo … well, Fredo was … but I never wanted this for you. I live my life, I don't apologize to take care of my family. And I refused to be a fool dancing on the strings held by all of those big shots. That's my life, I don't apologize for that. But I always thought that when it was your time, that you would be the one to hold the strings. Senator Corleone. Governor Corleone. Something.

Michael: Another pezzonovante.

Don Corleone: Well, there wasn't enough time, Michael. There just wasn't enough time.

Michael: We'll get there, Pop. We'll get there.

Don Corleone: [kisses Michael] Listen, whoever comes to you with this Barzini meeting, he's the traitor. Don't forget that.

Cast

Marlon Brando – Don Vito Corleone
Al Pacino – Michael Corleone
James Caan – Santino "Sonny" Corleone
Robert Duvall – Tom Hagen
Diane Keaton – Kay Adams
Abe Vigoda – Sal Tessio
Sterling Hayden – Captain McCluskey
Talia Shire – Connie Corleone Rizzi
Gianni Russo – Carlo Rizzi
John Cazale – Fredo Corleone
Richard Castellano – Pete Clemenza
Jack Marley – Jack Woltz
Al Lettieri – Virgil "the Turk" Solozzo
Alex Rocco – Moe Greene
Richard Conte – Don Emilio Barzini

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