The most beloved and honored films often have memorable lines of dialogue that are repeated for years and eventually for decades. There are usually one or two lines from these motion pictures that make them immortal, becoming part of American culture. (These are the greatest movie quotes in of all time.)
Other films, like “The Godfather,” celebrating the 50th anniversary of its release this year, percolate with indelible dialogue that marks it as one of the greatest movies of all time. (It might even be the greatest, period. See out list of the 100 greatest movies ever made.)
To determine the 25 most quotable lines from “The Godfather,” 24/7 Tempo gathered quotes from IMDb, an online movie and TV database owned by Amazon; Rotten Tomatoes, an online movie and TV review aggregator; The American Film Institute; and Movieneon, a site devoted to movies of the “golden era.” Many of the quotes are portions of longer speeches by some of the characters during the film.
Because of the family relationships, inner personal torment, and the bloody march to power it depicts, “The Godfather” has sometimes been compared to the works of Shakespeare. And like the dialogue in the Bard’s canon, lines from the gangster epic have come to have a life of their own.
We all know the film’s most famous quote from Don Corleone (played unforgettably in the original “Godfather” by Marlon Brando),“I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse.” Besides that implied threat, some of the themes of the movie’s unforgettable lines are advice, insults, warnings, adages, or anecdotes.
Don Corleone speaks many of the memorable lines, providing counsel to his sons and godson. But he is not the only character with notable quotes. His son Michael, the once-reluctant heir apparent to the crime empire, finds his voice in the threat to his brother Fredo about taking sides against the mob family.
Quotes from narcotics dealer Virgil Sollozzo and crime boss Peter Clemenza give the filmgoer pause in the off-handed way their lines are uttered as violence erupts around them. A diversity of other characters in the film – casino owners, undertakers, bodyguards, movie moguls – all have unforgettable lines.
Click here to see the 25 most memorable quotes from “The Godfather.”
There is perhaps no better way to measure the impact of the dialogue of “The Godfather” than the fact that it won the Academy Award in 1973 for Best Writing (Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium), that was bestowed on the film’s director and co-writer Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo, who also wrote the novel on which the film is based.
Funeral home director Amerigo Bonasera to Don Corleone
> Quote: “I believe in America. America has made my fortune.”
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Don Corleone to Amerigo Bonasera
> Quote: “Someday, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me. Until that day, accept this justice as a gift on my daughter’s wedding day.”
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Tom Hagen to his wife Teresa
> Quote: “No Sicilian can refuse a request on his daughter’s wedding day.”
Don Corleone to singer and godson Johnny Fontaine
> Quote: “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?”
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Michael Corleone to girlfriend Kay Adams
> Quote: “That’s my family Kay, not me.”
Don Corleone to Johnny Fontaine
> Quote: “A man who doesn’t spend time with his family can never be a real man.”
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Don Corleone to Johnny Fontaine
> Quote: “I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse.”
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Movie mogul Jack Woltz to Tom Hagen
> Quote: “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.”
Sonny Corleone to Don Corleone
> Quote: “There’s a lot of money in that white powder, Pop.”
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Gangster Virgil Sollozzo to Don Corleone
> Quote: “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 to Virgil Sollozzo
> Quote: “I have a sentimental weakness for my children and I spoil them, as you can see. They talk when they should listen.”
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Don Corleone to Sonny Corleone
> Quote: “Never tell anyone outside the family what you are thinking again.”
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Mob boss Sal Tessio to Corleone family members
> Quote: “It’s a Sicilian message. It means Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes.”
Gangster Peter Clemenza to assassin Rocco Lampone
> Quote: “Leave the gun, take the cannoli.”
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Virgil Sollozzo to consigliere Tom Hagen
> Quote: “I don’t like violence, Tom. I’m a businessman. Blood is a big expense.”
Sonny Corleone to Michael Corleone
> Quote: “Do you think this is the army, where you shoot ’em a mile away? You’ve got to get up close like this and – bada-bing! You blow their brains all over your nice Ivy League suit.”
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Peter Clemenza to Michael Corleone
> Quote: “You know you got to stop them at the beginning, like they should have stopped Hitler at Munich. They should never have let him get away with that. They were just asking for big trouble.”
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Bodyguard Calo to Michael Corleone
> Quote: “In Sicily, women are more dangerous than shotguns.”
Mobster Don Barzini speaking at gangster sitdown
> Quote: “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.”
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Michael Corleone to Kay Adams
> Quote: “My father is no different than any powerful man, any man with power, like a president or senator.”
Casino owner Moe Green to Michael Corleone
> Quote: “Do you know who I am? I’m Moe Green. I made my bones while you were still going out with cheerleaders!”
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Michael Corleone to Fredo Corleone
> Quote: “Fredo, you’re my older brother and I love you, but don’t you ever go against the family again. Ever.”
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Don Corleone to Michael Corleone
> Quote: “Women and children can afford to be careless, but not men.”
Don Corleone to Michael Corleone
> Quote: “And I refused – to be a fool – dancing on the string, held by all those – bigshots. I don’t apologize – that’s my life….“
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Michael Corleone to brother-in-law Carlo Rizzi
> Quote: “Today I settled all family business so don’t tell me that you’re innocent.”
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