72 Most Memorable Godfather Quotes From the Trilogy

The Godfather might just be the perfect movie. Adapted from Mario Puzo’s smash novel of the same name, the mafioso movie made somewhere in the region of $250-291 million and won three Academy Awards. Chronicling the Corleone family over a period of ten years, the movie focuses on Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), the youngest son of Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando), who changes from a fresh-faced war hero wanting nothing to do with the family business to a cold-hearted killer who rises to the top of the mafia food chain.

It’s an incredible movie that not only features a thrilling script by Puzo, amazing direction from Francis Ford Coppola, and a cast that includes Brando, Pacino, James Cann, Robert Duvall, John Cazale, and Diane Keaton but also has some of the most quotable dialogue of any movie, with Godfather quotes still just as popular today as they were when the film was released in 1972. 

It’s not just The Godfather that has memorable quotes, with both sequels, The Godfather II and The Godfather III, chock full of great dialogue. It is one of cinema’s great movie trilogies. The second movie is both a sequel and a prequel, showing how a young Vito Corleone (Robert De Niro) came to power juxtaposed with Michael Corleone trying to move into Las Vegas and legitimize some of his businesses. It took home six Academy Awards and is considered on par with the original.

Then you have The Godfather III, that despite being a massive success commercial, didn’t receive the warm reviews of its predecessors. The movie once again focuses on Micahel Corleone, this time as he tries to go legit, while the illegitimate son of his brother Sonny, Vincent Corleone (Andy Garcia), looks to take over as mafia don from Michael. 

Just like Pulp Fiction and The Big Lebowski, The Godfather is full of quotable lines that people still use in general conversation today, some 50 years later. While most of the best quotes come from the first two movies, there are still some fantastic lines from The Godfather III worth mentioning. So here are our favorite quotes from The Godfather trilogy. 

72 Most Memorable Godfather Quotes From the Trilogy

The Best Quotes From The Godfather

1. “I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse.” – Don Vito Corleone

2. “It’s a Sicilian message. It means Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes.” – Peter Clemenza

3. “Fredo – you’re my older brother, and I love you. But don’t ever take sides with anyone against the family again. Ever.” – Michael Corleone

4. “Mr. Corleone is a man who insists on hearing bad news at once.” – Tom Hagen

5. “A man who doesn’t spend time with his family can never be a real man.” – Don Vito Corleone

6. “I hope that their first child, be a masculine child.” – Luca Brasi 

7. “My father assured him that either his brains or his signature would be on the contract.” – Michael Corleone 

8. “And if by chance an honest man like yourself should make enemies then they would become my enemies… and then they will fear you.” – Vito Corleone

9. “What are you worried about, if I wanted to kill you, you’d be dead already.” – Virgil Sollozzo

10. “You gotta get them close like this, and badda-bing, you blow their brains all over your nice Ivy League suit.” – Sonny Corleone

11. “Don’t ask me about my business, Kay.” – Michale Corleone 

12. “Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.” – Peter Clemenza 

13. “Great men are not born great, they grow great.” – Don Vito Corleone

14. “We go to the mattresses!” – Sonny Corleone

15. “I don’t like violence, Tom. I’m a businessman. Blood is a big expense.” – Virgil Sollozo 

16. “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.” – Don Vito Corleone

17. “I believe in America. America has made my fortune.” – Amerigo Bonasera

18. “A friend should always underestimate your virtues and an enemy overestimate your faults.” – Don Vito Corleone

19. “Only don’t tell me that you’re innocent. Because it insults my intelligence… and it makes me very angry.” – Michael Corleone

20. “You can act like a man! What’s the matter with you? Is this how you turned out, a Hollywood finocchio that cries like a woman? ‘Ah what can I do? What can I do?'” – Don Vito Corleone

21. “I’m your older brother, Mike, and I was stepped over!” – Fredo Corleone 

22. “He’s still alive. They hit him with five shots and he’s still alive.” – Virgil Sollozzo

23. “Some day, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me.” – Don Corleone 

24. “That’s my family, Kay. It’s not me.” – Michael Corleone

25. “A man in my position can’t afford to look ridiculous.” – Jack Woltz

26. “You think too much of me, kid. I am not that clever.” – Virgil Sollozzo

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

28. “The strength of a family, like the strength of an army, lies in its loyalty to each other.” – Don Vito Corleone

29. “Goddamn FBI don’t respect nothin’.” – Sonny Corleone

30. “I made my bones when you were going out with cheerleaders!” – Moe Greene

31. “Never tell anyone outside the family what you are thinking again.” – Don Vito Corleone

32. “You know, Mike, you’re gonna turn out all right.” – Peter Clemenza 

33. “You talk about vengeance. Is vengeance going to bring your son back to you? Or my boy to me?” – Don Vito Corleone

The Best Quotes From The Godfather II

34. “I know it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart. You broke my heart!” – Michael Corleone 

35. “This is the business we’ve chosen.” – Hyman Roth

36. “I’ll change; I’ll change. I’ve learned that I have the strength to change.” – Michael Corleone 

37. “Oh, this is too violent for me.” – Don Fanucci

38. “Soldiers are paid to fight. The rebels aren’t.” – Michael Corleone

39. “Your father did business with Hyman Roth, he respected Hyman Roth… but he never *trusted* Hyman Roth!” – Frank Pentangeli

40. “My father taught me many things here – he taught me in this room. He taught me: keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.” – Michael Corleone

41. “Tell your friends I don’t want a lot. Just enough to wet my beak. Don’t be afraid to tell them!” – Don Fanucci

42. “I don’t feel I have to wipe everybody out, Tom. Just my enemies.” – Michael Corleone

43. “Those were the great old days, you know… and we was like the Roman Empire… the Corleone family was like the Roman Empire…” – Frank Pentangeli

44. “If anything in this life is certain, if history has taught us anything, it is that you can kill anyone.” – Michael Corleone

45. “Oh yeah, a buffer. The family had a lot of buffers!” – Willi Cici

46. “In my home! In my bedroom where my wife sleeps! Where my children come and play with their toys. In my home.” – Michael Corleone. 

47. “It made me think of what you once told me: ‘In five years the Corleone family will be completely legitimate.’ That was seven years ago.” – Kay Corleone 

48. “Hyman Roth has been dying from the same heart attack for the last 20 years.” – Michael Corleone

49. “She’s very beautiful. To you, she’s beautiful. For me, there is only my wife and son. – Vito Corleone

50. “Fredo, you’re nothing to me now. You’re not a brother, you’re not a friend. I don’t want to know you or what you do. I don’t want to see you at the hotels, I don’t want you near my house. When you see our mother, I want to know a day in advance, so I won’t be there. You understand?” – Michael Corleone 

51. “It ain’t the way I wanted it! I can handle things! I’m smart! Not like everybody says… like dumb… I’m smart and I want respect!” – Fredo Corleone

52. “Good health is the most important thing. More than success, more than money, more than power. 

53. “My offer is this: nothing. Not even the $20,000 for the gaming license, which I would appreciate if you put up personally.” – Michael Corleone

54. “I’d give $4 million just to be able to take a piss without it hurting.” Hyman Roth

The Best Quotes From The Godfather III

55. “Just when I think I’m out, they pull me back in.” – Michael Corleone

56. “I don’t fear you, Michael. I just dread you.” Kay Adams (Corleone)

57. “I would burn in hell to keep you safe.” – Michael Corleone

58. “Your sins are terrible. It is just that you suffer. Your life could be redeemed, but I know you don’t believe that. You will not change.” – Cardinal Lamberto

59. “Friends and money – oil and water.” – Michael Corleone

60. “Finance is a gun. Politics is knowing when to pull the trigger.” – Licio Lucchesi 

61. “In Sicily, women are more dangerous than shotguns.” – Calo

62. “Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgment.” – Michael Corleone 

63. “Power wears out those who do not have it.” – Calo

64. “I must accept my age, and grow my olives and tomatoes.” – Don Altobello

65. “Give up my daughter. That is the price you pay for the life you choose.” – Michael Corleone 

66. “You know, Michael, now that you’re so respectable I think you’re more dangerous than you ever were. In fact, I preferred you when you were just a common Mafia hood.” – Kay Adams (Corleone)

67. “Power wears out those who do not have it.” – Calo

69. “With a law degree you’re taking on insurance. After that, you can do anything you want.” – Michael Corleone

70. “The richest man is the one with the most powerful friends.” – Don Altobello

71. “My brother, your father, he and I. Opposites. But I never doubted his love. He would do anything for me. But his temper. Clouded his judgement. I don’t want to see the same thing happen to you.” – Michael Corleone

72. “I’ve lost the lust for women, and now my mind is clear.” – Don Altobello