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The Godfather Quotes

“Connie: [shrieking at Michael] You killed my husband! You waited until our father died so nobody could stop you and you killed him! You killed him! You blamed him for Sonny, you always did, everybody did. But you never thought about me. You never gave a dam about me. What am I going to do now?

Kay Adams: [taking Connie in her arms] Connie...

Connie: Why do you think he kept Carlo at the mall? All the time he knew he was going to kill him. And then he stood Godfather to our baby. You think you know your husband? You know how many men he had killed! Read the papers. Read the papers! That's your husband! [Michael takes Connie into her arms, but she goes wild again and tries to attack him]

Michael Corleone: Take her upstairs. Get her a doctor. [Michael's bodyguards grab Connie and pull her out of the office...to Kay] She's hysterical.

Kay Adams: Is it true?

Michael Corleone: Don't ask me about my business, Kay.

Kay Adams: Is it true?

Michael Corleone: Don't ask me about my business...

Kay Adams: No...

Michael Corleone: [slams the desk] ENOUGH!”
— Kay Adams, The Godfather
Tagged: Murder, Gaslighting
“The negotiator's at my house playing pinochle with some of my men, he's happy. They're letting him win.”
— Pete Clemenza, The Godfather
Tagged: pinochle
“[Michael gets ready to leave the house]
Sonny: Where're you going?

Michael: To the city.

Sonny: [to Clemenza] Yeah? Well, send somebody with him.

Michael: No, I'm just gonna go see Pop.

Sonny: I don't care, send some bodyguards with him.

Clemenza: He'll be all right. Sollozzo knows he's a civilian.

Sonny: Yeah? Well take care, all right?

Michael: Yes, sir. [Michael leaves]

Sonny: Send someone with him anyway...”
— Santino 'Sonny' Corleone, The Godfather
Tagged: bodyguards, civilian
“Sonny: How's Paulie?

Clemenza: Oh, Paulie... won't see him no more.”
— Santino 'Sonny' Corleone, The Godfather
Tagged: Death, Murdered
“Tom Hagen: The Senator called, he apologized for not coming but said that you would understand; also some of the judges. They've all sent gifts. [raises his glass to the Don] Salut. [Both men are suddenly startled by a huge roaring cheer]

Don Corleone: What is that, outside? [Both look out the window and see famous singer Johnny Fontane has arrived] He came all the way from California to the wedding. i told you he was gonna come!

Tom Hagen: It's been two years. He's probably in trouble again.

Don Corleone: He is a good godson.”
— Don Vito Corleone, The Godfather
Tagged: Apologies, godson, California, wedding
“Capt. McCluskey: I thought I got all you Guinea hoods locked up! What the hell are you doing here?

Michael: What happened to the men who were guarding my father, Captain?

Capt. McCluskey: I pulled them guys off of here, eh, now get away from this hospital!

Michael: I'm not leaving until you put some guards around my father's room.

Capt. McCluskey: Phil, take him in!

Cop with Capt. McCluskey outside hospital: The kid's clean Captain, he's a war hero! He's never been mixed up with the rackets...

Capt. McCluskey: Goddamn it Phil, I said take him in!

Michael: What's the Turk paying you to set up my father, Captain?

Capt. McCluskey: [to Patrolmen] Take a hold of him. Stand him up. Stand him up straight. [punches Michael and breaks his jaw]”
— Capt. Mark McCluskey, The Godfather
Tagged: Guards, hospital, Threats, Violence, Police Brutality
“[teaching Apollonia to drive] It's safer to teach you English!”
— Michael Corleone, The Godfather
Tagged: driving lessons, english lessons
“Michael: You and I are going to move my father to another room, now can you disconnect those tubes so we can move the bed out of here?

Night Nurse: That is out of the question.

Michael: You know my father? Men are coming here to kill him, now help me, please.”
— Michael Corleone, The Godfather
Tagged: hospital, Threats
“Don Corleone, I am honored and grateful that you have invited me to your daughter's wedding...on the day of your daughter's wedding. And I hope their first child be a masculine child. I pledge my never-ending loyalty.”
— Luca Brasi, The Godfather
Tagged: Loyalty, Pledge, wedding
“Michael: [the car that Michael, Sollozzo, and McClusky are riding in takes an unexpected detour] New Jersey... we're going to New Jersey?

Sollozzo: [sinister] Maybe.”
— Michael Corleone, The Godfather
Tagged: New Jersey
“Sollozzo: I'm glad you came, Mike. I hope we can straighten everything out. I mean, this is terrible... it's not the way I wanted things to go at all. It should've never happened.

Michael: We'll straighten everything out tonight. I don't want my father bothered anymore.

Sollozzo: He won't be, Mike. I swear on my children he won't be. But you gotta keep an open mind when we talk. I mean, I hope you're not a hothead like your brother Sonny. You can't talk business with him.

Capt. McCluskey: Ahh, he's a good kid. I'm sorry about the other night, Mike. [Shakes Michael's hand] I gotta frisk you, so turn around, on your knees facing me. [Michael turns around, McCluskey frisks him] I guess I'm getting too old for my job. Too grouchy... can't stand the aggravation. You know how it is. [to Sollozzo] He's clean.”
— Michael Corleone, The Godfather
Tagged: Frisking, hothead
“Capt. McCluskey: How's the Italian food in this restaurant?

Sollozzo: Good. Try the veal, it's the best in the city.

Capt. McCluskey: I'll have it.”
— Capt. Mark McCluskey, The Godfather
Tagged: italian food, veal
“Sonny: Did he...did Clemenza tell you to drop the gun?

Michael: Yeah, a million times.”
— Santino 'Sonny' Corleone, The Godfather
Tagged: Gun
“Sonny: Tom-anuch! Hey, a hundred button men on the street twenty-four hours a day. That Turk shows one hair on his ass, he's dead. Believe me. [to Michael, whose face is bruised] Hey Michael, c'mere. Let me look at you. You look beautiful, just beautiful, you're gorgeous. Hey, listen to this. The Turk, he wants to talk. You imagine the nerve on this son of a bitch, hey? Craps out last night he wants a meetin' today.

Tom Hagen: What did he say?

Sonny: What did he say? Badda-beep, badda-bap, badda-boop, badda-beep, he wants us to send Michael to hear the proposition, and the promise is the deal is so good we can't refuse. Hey.

Tom Hagen: What about Bruno Tattaglia?

Sonny: That's part of the deal. Bruno cancels out what they did to my father.

Tom Hagen: Sonny, we ought to hear what they have to say.

Sonny: No, no, no! No more! Not this time, Consigliere! No more meetin's! No more discussions! No more Sollozzo tricks! You give 'em one message—'I want Solozzo. If not, it's all-out war, we go to the mattresses.

Tom Hagen: Some of the other families won't sit still for all-out war!

Sonny: Then they hand me Sollozzo!

Tom Hagen: Your father would want to hear this. This is business, not personal.

Sonny: They shot my father? It's business, your ass.

Tom Hagen: Even the shooting of your father was business, not personal, Sonny!

Sonny: Well then, business will have to suffer, all right? And listen, do me a favor, Tom. No more advice on how to patch things up, just help me win, please. All right?

Tom Hagen: I found out about this Captain McClusky who broke Mike's jaw.

Sonny: What about him?

Tom Hagen: Now, he's definitely on Sollozzo's payroll and for big money. McClusky has agreed to be the Turk's bodyguard. What you have to understand, Sonny, is that while Sollozzo's being guarded like this he is invulnerable. Now, nobody has ever gunned down a New York police captain. Never. It would be disastrous. All the five families would come after you, Sonny. The Corleone Family would be outcast. Even the old man's political protection would run for cover. So, do me a favor, take this into consideration.

Sonny: All right, we wait.

Michael: It can't wait.

Sonny: Huh?

Michael: It can't wait. I don't care what Sollozzo says about a deal, he's gonna kill Pop. That's it. That's a key for him. Gotta get Sollozzo.

Clemenza: Mikey's right.

Sonny: Let me ask you something, Professor. I mean, what about this McClusky, huh? What do we do with this cop here?

Michael: They want to have a meeting with me, right? It will be me, McClusky and Sollozzo. Let's set the meeting. Get our informants to find out where it's going to be held. Now we insist it's a public place—'a bar or a restaurant, some place where there's people there so I'll feel safe. They're going to 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 them both.

Sonny: [Clemenza, Tessio and Sonny laugh] Hey. What are you gonna do? Nice college boy, huh? Didn't want to get mixed up in the family business? Now you want to gun down a police captain, what, 'cause he slapped you in the face a little bit, huh? What do you think, this the Army where you shoot 'em a mile away? No, you gotta get up close like this—'badda-bing!—'you blow their brains all over your nice Ivy League suit. C'mere. [Kisses Michael on the head]

Sonny: You're taking this very personal. Tom, this is business and this man is taking it very, very personal.”
— Santino 'Sonny' Corleone, The Godfather
Tagged: college boy, family business, Murder, Mafia
“[to Michael] 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.”
— Don Vito Corleone, The Godfather
Tagged: Assassination, Murder
“[speaking with the father of the girl he plans to marry, and after telling him that he's in hiding from some gangsters]
Michael: Some people will pay a lot of money for that information; but then your daughter would lose a father, instead of gaining a husband.”
— Michael Corleone, The Godfather
Tagged: Gangsters, Threats
“[during a meeting with the Five Families] Times have changed. It's not like the Old Days, when we can do anything we want. A refusal is not the act of a friend. If Don Corleone had all the judges, and the politicians in New York, then he must share them, or let us others use 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.”
— Emilio Barzini, The Godfather
Tagged: graft, Corruption, Communists
“Sollozzo: [to Michael, in Sicilian] I am sorry. What happened to your father was business. I have much respect for your father. But your father, his thinking is old-fashioned. You must understand why I had to do that. Now let's work through where we go from here. [Michael tries speaking in Sicilian, but can't express himself properly, so with a quick look at McCluskey they both switch to English]

Michael: What I want... what's most important to me is that I have a guarantee: no more attempts on my father's life.

Sollozzo: What guarantees could I give you, Mike? I'm the hunted one. I've missed my chance. You think too much of me, kid. I am not that clever. All I want is a truce.

Michael: I have to go to the bathroom. Is that all right?

Capt. McCluskey: You gotta go, you gotta go. [Michael gets up, but a suspicious Sollozzo probes Michael's crotch, to Michael's offense] I frisked him. He's clean.

Sollozzo: Don't take too long... [Michael heads to the bathroom]

Capt. McCluskey: [to Sollozzo] I frisked a thousand young punks.”
— Michael Corleone, The Godfather
Tagged: bathroom, Frisking, Punks, truce
“Goddamned FBI don't respect nothin'.”
— Santino 'Sonny' Corleone, The Godfather
Tagged: FBI, Respect
“[after Michael gets off the phone with Kay, clearly too embarrassed to tell her he loves her]
Mikey, why don't you tell that nice girl you love her? I love you with all-a my heart, if I don't see-a you again soon, I'm-a gonna die.”
— Pete Clemenza, The Godfather
Tagged: Love, Shame, italian accent
“[after Sonny beats up Carlo Rizzi for hitting Connie] You touch my sister again, I'll kill you.”
— Santino 'Sonny' Corleone, The Godfather
Tagged: Threats, Violence Against Women
“Sonny: Hey, whaddya 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. Why? Because he slapped ya in the face a little bit? 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. C'mere... [kisses Michael's head]

Michael: Sonny...

Sonny: You're taking this very personal. Tom, this is business and this man is taking it very, very personal.”
— Santino 'Sonny' Corleone, The Godfather
Tagged: cop killer, Ivy League, blow your brains out, Business, personal
“[as Tessio and Hagen walk to Michael's house, they are met by a bodyguard, Willi Cicci]
Willi Cicci: Sal... Tom... the boss says he'll come in a separate car. He says for you two to go on ahead.

Tessio: Hell, he can't do that; that screws up all my arrangements.

Willi Cicci: Well, that's what he said.

Tom Hagen: I can't go with you either, Tessio. [just then, Michael's bodyguards materialize around them, Tessio understands everything]

Tessio: [to Hagen] Tell Mike it was only business. I always liked him.

Tom Hagen: He understands that.

Willi Cicci: [removing Tessio's gun] Excuse me, Sally.

Tessio: Can you get me off the hook, Tom? For old times' sake?

Tom Hagen: [shakes his head] Can't do it, Sally. [Hagen watches sadly as Tessio is led by Cicci and the others to a waiting car]”
— Tom Hagen, The Godfather
Tagged: Business
“Tessio: Barzini's people chisel my territory and we do nothing about it. Pretty soon there won't be anyplace in Brooklyn that I can hang my hat.

Michael: Try and be patient.

Clemenza: I'm not asking for help, Mike, just take off the handcuffs.

Michael: Be patient.

Clemenza: We gotta protect ourselves. At least give me the chance to recruit some new men.

Michael: No. I don't want to give Barzini any excuse to start fighting.

Tessio: Mike, you're wrong.

Clemenza: Don Corleone, you once said the day would come when me and Tessio could form our own families. Until today I would never think of such a thing but now I must ask your permission.

Don Corleone: Well, Michael's head of the family now and if give his permission then you have my blessing.

Michael: After we make the move to Nevada you can break off from the Corleone Family and go off on your own. After we make the move to Nevada.

Clemenza: How long will that take?

Michael: Six months.

Tessio: Forgive me, Godfather, but with you gone me and Pete will come under Barzini's thumb sooner or later.

Clemenza: And I hate that goddamned Barzini. In six months time there won't be nothin' left to build on.

Don Corleone: Do you have faith in my judgemnt?

Clemenza: Yes.

Don Corleone: Do I have your loyalty?

Clemenza: Yes, always Godfather.

Don Corleone: Then be a friend to Michael. Do as he says.

Michael: There are negotiations being made that are going to answer all of your questions and solve all of your problems. That's all I can tell you right now. Carlo, you grew up in Nevada. When we make our move there you're going to be my right hand man. Tom Hagen is no longer Consigliari. He's going to be our lawyer in Vegas. That's no reflection on Tom it's just the way I want it. Besides, if I ever help who's a better Consigliari than my father. That's it. [Everyone except Hagen leaves]

Tom Hagen: Mike, why am I out?

Michael: You're not a wartime Consigliari, Tom. Things could get rough with the move we're making.

Don Corleone: Tom, I advised Michael. I never thought you were a bad Consigliere. I thought Santino was a bad Don, rest in peace. Michael has all my confidence as do you. But there are reasons why you must have nothing to do with what's going to happen.

Tom Hagen: Maybe I could help.

Michael: You're out, Tom.”
— Tom Hagen, The Godfather
Tagged: handcuffs, Brooklyn, Nevada, Consigliere
“Jack Woltz: All right, start talking!

Tom Hagen: I come from a personal friend of Mr Johnny Fontane. That friend promises his undying friendship if you would do him a small favor.

Jack Woltz: What's that?

Tom Hagen: Give Johnny a part in that war movie you're starting next week. [Woltz signs a document with a smile and walks away, Hagen alongside him]

Jack Woltz: And what favors does this friend promise in exchange for giving Johnny the part?

Tom Hagen: You've got some labor trouble coming up. My client promises to make that trouble disappear. You have a top star who makes a lot of money, but he just graduated from marijuana to heroin...

Jack Woltz: [all East Side now] Are you trying to muscle me?

Tom Hagen: Absolutely not. I've come to ask a service for a friend...

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.

Jack Woltz: I know almost every big lawyer in New York, who the hell are you?

Tom Hagen: I have a special practice. I handle one client. Now you have my number, I'll wait for your call. By the way, I admire your pictures very much. [Hagen leaves, with Woltz staring after him]

Jack Woltz: [to an underling] Check him out...”
— Tom Hagen, The Godfather
Tagged: Marijuana, Heroin, dago, wop, guinea, goombahs, greaseballs, anti-italian
“I also don't believe in drugs. For years I paid my people extra so they wouldn't do that kind of business. Somebody comes to them and says, 'I have powders; if you put up three, four thousand dollar investment, we can make fifty thousand distributing.' So they can't resist. I want to control it as a business, to keep it respectable. [slams his hand on the table and shouts] I don't want it near schools! I don't want it sold to children! That's an infamia. In my city, we would keep the traffic in the dark people, the coloreds. They're animals anyway, so let them lose their souls.”
— Don Zaluchi, The Godfather
Tagged: Drugs, respectable, Colored People
“Michael: You have to answer for Santino, Carlo. You fingered Sonny for the Barzini people.

Carlo Rizzi: Mike, you got it all wrong.

Michael: Ah, that little farce you played with my sister. You think that would fool a Corleone?

Carlo Rizzi: Mike, I'm innocent. I swear on the kids.

Michael: Sit down.

Carlo Rizzi: Please don't do this to me, Mike. Please don't.

Michael: Barzini is dead. So is Phillip Tattaglia. Moe Greene. Stracci. Cuneo. Today I settled all family business so don't tell me that you're innocent. Admit what you did. [Carlo starts sobbing] Get him a drink. Don't be afraid, Carlo. Come on, you think I'd make my sister a widow? I'm Godfather to your son. [Carlo gets handed a drink] Go ahead. Drink. Drink. No, you're out of the family business, that's your punishment. You're finished. I'm putting you on a plane to Vegas. Tom? [Tom hands Michael an airplane ticket] I want you to stay there, you understand? [Carlo nods] Only don't tell me that you're innocent. Because it insults my intelligence and it makes me very angry. Now, who approached you first? Barzini or Tattaglia?

Carlo Rizzi: It was Barzini.

Michael: Good. There's a car outside that will take you to the airport. I'll call your wife and tell her what flight you're on.

Carlo Rizzi: Listen, Mike...

Michael: Go on. Get out of my sight.”
— Michael Corleone, The Godfather
Tagged: Threats, Murder, Intelligence, Innocence
“Tom Hagen: Sollozzo is known as the Turk. He's supposed to be very good with a knife. But only in matters of business, or of some sort of reasonable complaint. His business is narcotics. He has the fields in Turkey, where they grow the poppy. In Sicily he has the plant to process it into heroin. He needs cash and he needs protection from the police for which he gives a piece of the action, I couldn't find out how much. The Tattaglia Family is behind him here in New York so they have to be in it for something.

Don Corleone: What about his prison record?

Tom Hagen: Two terms, one in Italy, and one here. He's known as a top narcotics man.

Don Corleone: Santino, what do you think?

Sonny: There's a lot of money in that white powder.

Don Corleone: Tom?

Tom Hagen: Well, I say yes. There is more money potential in narcotics than anything else we're looking at now. If we don't get into it, somebody else will, maybe one of the Five Families, maybe all of them. And with the money they earn they'll be able to buy more police and political power. Then they come after us. Right now we have the unions and we have the gambling and those are the best things to have. But narcotics is a thing of the future. If we don't get a piece of that action we risk everything we have. Not now, but ten years from now.

Sonny: Well, what's your answer gonna be, Pop?”
— Tom Hagen, The Godfather
Tagged: five families, prison record, Heroin, narcotics
“Michael Corleone: Where does it say that you can't kill a cop?

Tom Hagen: Come on, Mikey...

Michael Corleone: Tom, wait a minute. I'm talking about a cop that's mixed up in drugs. I'm talking about a—a—a dishonest cop—a crooked cop who got mixed up in the rackets and got what was coming to him. That's a terrific story. And we have newspaper people on the payroll, don't we, Tom? [Tom nods]

Michael Corleone: And they might like a story like that.

Tom Hagen: They might, they just might.

Michael Corleone: [to Sonny] It's not personal, Sonny. It's strictly business.”
— Michael Corleone, The Godfather
Tagged: cop killer, police corruption, Business, personal
“I have to get back to work. It's part of the wedding. No Sicilian can ever refuse a request on his daughter's wedding day.”
— Tom Hagen, The Godfather
Tagged: siclian, Wedding Day
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