The Godfather Quotes

Johnny Fontane: [discussing his problems] I don't know what to do, Godfather. My voice is weak, it's weak. Anyway, if I had this part in the picture, it puts me right back on top, you know. But this... this man out there. He won't give it to me, the head of the studio.
Don Corleone: What's his name?
Don Corleone: Woltz. He said

there's no chance, no chance...
[Meanwhile, Hagen finds Sonny and summons him]
Johnny Fontane: A month ago he bought the rights to this book, a best seller. The main character is a guy just like me. I wouldn't even have to act, just be myself. Oh, Godfather, I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do...
[All of a sudden, Don Corleone rises from his chair

and gives Fontane a savage shake]
Don Corleone: YOU CAN ACT LIKE A MAN!
[gives a quick slap to Fontane]
Don Corleone: What's the matter with you? Is this what you've become, a Hollywood finocchio who cries like a woman? "Oh, what do I do? What do I do?" What is that nonsense? Ridiculous!
[the Don's unexpected mimicry makes Hagen and

even Fontane laugh; around this time Sonny comes in]
Don Corleone: Tell me, do you spend time with your family?
Johnny Fontane: Sure I do.
Don Corleone: Good. Because a man who doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man.
[gives a quick look at Sonny and affectionately embraces Fontane]
Don

Corleone: You look terrible. I want you to eat, I want you to rest well. And a month from now this Hollywood big shot's gonna give you what you want.
Johnny Fontane: Too late. They start shooting in a week.
Don Corleone: I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse. Okay? I want you to leave it all to me. Go on, go back to the party.

[a gratified Fontane leaves]

Kay Adams: Michael, you never told me you knew Johnny Fontane!
Michael: Sure, you want to meet him?
Kay Adams: Well, yeah! Sure.
Michael: My father helped him with his career.
Kay Adams: How did he do that?
Michael: ...Let's listen to the song.
Kay

Adams: [after listening to Johnny for a while] Tell me, Michael. Please.
Michael: Well, when Johnny was first starting out, he was signed to a personal services contract with this big-band leader. And as his career got better and better, he wanted to get out of it. But the band leader wouldn't let him. Now, Johnny is my father's godson. So my father went to see

this bandleader and offered him $10,000 to let Johnny go, but the bandleader said no. So the next day, my father went back, only this time with Luca Brasi. Within an hour, he had a signed release for a certified check of $1000.
Kay Adams: How did he do that?
Michael: My father made him an offer he couldn't refuse.
Kay Adams:

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 Adams: ...
Michael: ...That's a true story.
[cut to Johnny singing again for about 10 more seconds before going back to Michael]
Michael:

That's my family Kay, that's not me.

Don Corleone: We have known each other many years, but this is the first time you've come to me for counsel or for help. I can't remember the last time 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 you feared 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. So you didn't need a friend like me. Now you come and 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." 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 you for justice.
Don Corleone: That is not justice. Your daughter is alive.
Bonasera: Let them suffer then as she suffers.
[the Don is silent]
Bonasera: How much

shall I pay you?
[the Don turns away dismissively, but Bonasera stays on]
Don Corleone: Bonasera, Bonasera, what have I ever done to make you treat me so disrespectfully? If you'd come to me in friendship, this scum who ruined your daughter would be suffering this very day. And if by some chance an honest man like yourself made enemies they would become my enemies.

And then, they would fear you.
Bonasera: Be my friend... Godfather.
[the Don at first shrugs, but upon hearing the title he lifts his hand, and a humbled Bonasera kisses the ring on it]
Don Corleone: Good.
[He places his hand around Bonasera in a paternal gesture]
Don Corleone: Some day, and that day may never

come, I will call upon you to do a service for me. But until that day, consider this justice a gift on my daughter's wedding day.
[a gratified Bonasera offers his thanks and leaves]
Don Corleone: [to Hagen] Give this job to Clemenza. I want reliable people, people who aren't going to be carried away. I mean, we're not murderers, in spite of what this undertaker

thinks...

[last lines]
Michael: All right. This one time I'll let you ask me about my affairs.
Kay Adams: Is it true? Is it?
Michael: No.
[Kay smiles and walks into his arms]
Kay Adams: I guess we both need a drink, huh?
[Kay goes to the kitchen to fix a drink, but sees Peter Clemenza, Rocco Lampone

and Al Neri enter Michael's office]
Clemenza: Don Corleone.
[Clemenza kisses Michael's hand, and Neri shuts the door in her face...]

Michael: My credit good enough to buy you out?
Moe Greene: Buy me out?
[Fredo laughs nervously]
Michael: The hotel, the casino. 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: [Michael shakes his head] You're unlucky.
Moe Greene: You goddamn guineas you really make me laugh. I do you a favor and take Freddie in when you're having a bad time, and now you're gonna try and push me out!

Michael: You took Freddie in because the Corleone Family bankrolled your casino, and 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. Moe didn't

mean nothin' by that. Yeah, sure he flies off the handle every once in a while, but me and him, we're good friends, right Moe?
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 me, 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 the matter with you?
Michael: I leave for New York tomorrow, think about a price.
Moe Greene: Sonofabitch! 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 Consiglieri and you can talk to the Don, you can explain...
Tom Hagen: Now hold it right there. 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.
Fredo: [Moe Greene leaves] Mike! You do not 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.

[first lines]
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 "boy friend," 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 boy friend. 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 broken. Her jaw was 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.

[He breaks down at this point, and the Don gestures to his son to get him a drink]
Bonasera: Sorry...
[He regains his composure and carries on]
Bonasera: 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, and suspended the 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."
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 gets up from his seat and whispers into the Don's ear; for a long moment the Don is silent]
Don Corleone: That I cannot do.
Bonasera: I will give you anything you ask!

Sollozzo: Bene, Don Corleone. I need a man who has powerful friends. I need a million dollars in cash. I need, Don Corleone, all of those politicians that you carry around in your pocket, like so many nickels and dimes.
Don Corleone: What is the interest for my family?
Sollozzo: Thirty percent. In the first year your end should be

three, four million dollars. And then it would go up.
Don Corleone: And what is the interest for the Tattalgia family?
Sollozzo: [smiles at Tom] My compliments.
[Hagen gives a formal nod]
Sollozzo: I'll take care of the Tattaglias, out of my share.
Don Corleone: So, I am to receive thirty percent

for finance, for legal protection and political influence. Is that what you're telling me?
Sollozzo: That's right.
Don Corleone: Why come to me? What have I done to deserve such generosity?
Sollozzo: If you consider a million dollars in cash merely finance...
[raises his glass]
Sollozzo: Te

salut, Don Corleone.
[the Don gets up to take a drink and sits closer to Sollozzo]
Don Corleone: I said that I would see you because I had heard that you were a serious man, to be treated with respect. But I must say no to you and let me give you my reasons. It's true I have a lot of friends in politics, but they wouldn't be so friendly if they knew my business was

drugs instead of gambling which they consider a harmless vice. But drugs, that's a dirty business.
Sollozzo: No, Don Corleone...
Don Corleone: It makes no difference, it don't make any difference to me what a man does for a living, you understand. But your business is a little dangerous.
Sollozzo: If you're worried about

security for your million, the Tattaglias will guarantee it.
Sonny: Whoa, now, you're telling me that the Tattaglias guarantee our investment without...?
Don Corleone: Wait a minute.
[the Don gives his son a cold stare, freezing Santino into silence. The others fidget with embarrassment at this outbreak, but Sollozzo looks slyly satisfied...]

Don Corleone: [dismissive] I have a sentimental weakness for my children and I spoil them, as you can see. They talk when they should listen. Anyway, Signor Sollozzo, my no to you is final. I want to congratulate you on your new business and I'm sure you'll do very well and good luck to you. Especially since your interests don't conflict with mine. Thank you.

[Sollozzo leaves]
Don Corleone: Santino, come here.
Don Corleone: What's the matter with you? I think your brain is going soft with all that comedy you are playing with that young girl. Never tell anyone outside the Family what you are thinking again. Go on.

Tom Hagen: Mr Corleone is Johnny Fontane's godfather. Now Italians regard that as a very close, a very sacred religious relationship.
Jack Woltz: Tell your boss he can ask for anything else, but this is one favour I can't grant him.
Tom Hagen: Mr. Corleone never asks a second favor once he's refused the first, understood?

Jack Woltz: You don't understand. Johnny Fontane never gets that movie. That part is perfect for him. It'll make him a big star. I'm gonna run him out of the movies. And let me tell you why. Johnny Fontane ruined one of Woltz International's most valuable proteges. For three years we had her under contract, singing lessons, dancing lessons, acting lessons. I spent hundreds of

thousands of dollars. I was gonna make her a big star. And let me be even more frank, just to show you that I'm not a hard-hearted man, that it's not all dollars and cents. She was beautiful! She was young, she was innocent. She was the greatest piece of ass I've ever had, and I've had 'em all over the world. And then Johnny Fontaine comes along with his olive oil voice and guinea charm and she

runs off. She threw it all away just to make me look ridiculous. And a man in my position can't afford to be made to look ridiculous. Now you get the hell out of here! And if that goomba tries any rough stuff, you tell him I ain't no bandleader. Yeah, I heard that story.
[Hagen has been calmly eating his meal throughout Woltz's tirade]
Tom Hagen: Thank you for the

dinner and a very pleasant evening. Have your car take me to the airport. Mr Corleone is a man who insists on hearing bad news at once.

[at midnight, Don Corleone walks into his office and finds Tom Hagen taking a drink]
Don Corleone: Give me a drop.
[Hagen hands the Don his glass of anisette]
Don Corleone: My wife is crying upstairs. I hear cars coming to the house. Consigliore of mine, I think it's time you told your Don what everyone seems to know.
Tom

Hagen: I didn't tell Mama anything. I was just about to come up and wake you so that I could tell you.
Don Corleone: But you needed a drink first.
[Hagen nods]
Don Corleone: And now you've had your drink.
Tom Hagen: They shot Sonny on the causeway. He's dead.
[the Don accepts this news without any sign

of emotion, except to close his eyes and remain silent for a few minutes]
Don Corleone: [speaking at last] 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.

[Michael sees a man dressed in black coming to Vito's hospital room]
Michael Corleone: Who are you?
Enzo the Baker: I am Enzo. The baker. Do you remember me?
Michael Corleone: Enzo...
Enzo the Baker: Yes, Enzo.
Michael Corleone: You better get out of here, Enzo, there's gonna be

trouble.
Enzo the Baker: If there is trouble, I stay here to help you. For your father. For your father.

Don Corleone: 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.
[the Don rises as if to leave, but changes his mind midway and seats himself closer to Michael]
Don Corleone: I knew Santino was going to have to go through all this and Fredo... well, Fredo was... But I, I never wanted this for you. I work my whole 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.
[the Don kisses his son on the forehead]