Godfather Mario Puzo Quotes & Sayings

Wasn't it true that Sometimes the greatest misfortunes brought unforseen rewards? -Don Corleone — Mario Puzo

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

Any man can turn traitor. — Mario Puzo

Michael: Barzini will set me up through somebody close ... that, supposedly, I won't suspect.
Hagen: Somebody like me.
Michael: You're Irish, they won't trust you.
Hagen: I'm German-American.
Michael: To them that's Irish. — Mario Puzo

If I ever see another Shakespeare production where somebody drives a Jeep on stage, I'm going to run screaming up the aisle. — Terry Teachout

I believe in the forgiveness of sin and the redemption of ignorance. — Adlai E. Stevenson II

I have no such powers. If I did I would be more merciful than God, believe me. — Mario Puzo

Take the gun. Leave the cannoli. — Mario Puzo

Woman and children can afford to be careless, men can not-Don Corleone — Mario Puzo

But his Godfather had never said such and such a thing could be done without having it done. — Mario Puzo

Time erodes gratitude more quickly than it does beauty! — Mario Puzo

Fredo you're my older brother and I love you. But don't ever take sides against the family ... — Mario Puzo

To live is to find out for yourself what is true, and you can do this only when there is freedom, when there is continuous revolution inwardly, within yourself. — Jiddu Krishnamurti

Don Corleone had promised his godson he would get the part and Don Corleone had never, to Hagen's knowledge, broken his word in such matters. — Mario Puzo

No, that's not possible," Michael said. "Killed, yes; jail, no. — Mario Puzo

Nothing's changed. When people read The Highwayman , they see it all in their heads. Their imagination is way more powerful than anything you can throw onto the screen. Look at the great graphic novels they've already butchered. — Glenn Benest

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. — Mario Puzo

I have always credited the writer of the original material above the title: Mario Puzo's The Godfather, Bram Stoker's Dracula, or John Grisham's The Rainmaker. I felt that I didn't have the right to Francis Coppola's anything unless I had written the story and the screenplay. — Francis Ford Coppola

What would the world come to if people kept carrying grudges against all reason? That has been the cross of Sicily, where men are so busy with vendettas they have no time to earn bread for their families. — Mario Puzo

There is a great gulf between the Christianity that wrestles with whether to worship at the cost of imprisonment and death, and the Christianity that wrestles with whether the kids should play soccer on Sunday morning. — John Piper

What someone is, begins to be revealed when his talent abates, when he stops showing us what he can do. — Friedrich Nietzsche

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

Santino, come here. 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're thinking again. Go on. — Mario Puzo

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

Aristotle says that in order to live alone one must either be an animal or a god. The third alternative is lacking. A man must be both; a philosopher. — Friedrich Nietzsche

When a boy finds someone who takes an interest in him, he responds and follows. — Baden Powell De Aquino

An author arrives at a good style when his language performs what is required of it without shyness. — Cyril Connolly

Forgive. Forget. Life is full of misfortunes. — Mario Puzo

Ah, men understand friendship more than we woman. — Mario Puzo

Genius had its rewards. — Mario Puzo

First it is done to us, then we do it to others, then we order it done. Such is the way of things — Joe Abercrombie