Michael Corleone Quotes in The Godfather (1972)

[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.

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.

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]

Michael Corleone: [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!

Michael Corleone: 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: I don't feel I have to wipe everybody out, Tom. Just my enemies.

Michael Corleone: I know it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart. You broke my heart!

[about the unrest in Cuba]

Michael Corleone: I saw a strange thing today. Some rebels were being arrested. One of them pulled the pin on a grenade. He took himself and the captain of the command with him. Now, soldiers are paid to fight; the rebels aren't.

Hyman Roth: What does that tell you?

Michael Corleone: They could win.

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

Kay Corleone: Oh, Michael. Michael, you are blind. It wasn't a miscarriage. It was an abortion. An abortion, Michael. Just like our marriage is an abortion. Something that's unholy and evil. I didn't want your son, Michael! I wouldn't bring another one of you sons into this world! It was an abortion, Michael! It was a son Michael! A son! And I had it killed because this must all end!

[Michael's eyes begin to bulge]

Kay Corleone: I know now that it's over. I knew it then. There would be no way, Michael... no way you could ever forgive me not with this Sicilian thing that's been going on for 2,000 years.

[Michael loses control. He slaps Kay across the face. She falls onto the couch]

Michael Corleone: Bitch! You won't take my children!

Kay Corleone: I will.

Michael Corleone: You WON'T TAKE MY CHILDREN!

Kay Corleone: They're my children too.

Senator Pat Geary: I despise your masquerade, the dishonest way you pose yourself. You and your whole fucking family.

Michael Corleone: We're both part of the same hypocrisy, senator, but never think it applies to my family.

[Ordering drinks in a Havana cafe]

Fredo Corleone: Uno... por favor...

[to Michael]

Fredo Corleone: How do you say "banana daiquiri"?

Michael Corleone: "Banana daiquiri."

Fredo Corleone: I'm your older brother, Mike, and I was stepped over!

Michael Corleone: That's the way Pop wanted it.

Fredo Corleone: 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!

[Geary is demanding a large bribe for a gaming license]

Senator Pat Geary: I want your answer and the money by noon tomorrow. And one more thing. Don't you contact me again, ever. From now on, you deal with Turnbull.

Michael Corleone: Senator? You can have my answer now, if you like. My final offer is this: nothing. Not even the fee for the gaming license, which I would appreciate if you would put up personally.

Michael Corleone: C'mon Frankie... my father did business with Hyman Roth, he respected Hyman Roth.

Frank Pentangeli: Your father did business with Hyman Roth, he respected Hyman Roth... but he never *trusted* Hyman Roth!

Michael Corleone: [discussing the incident regarding the two unknown gunmen who fired through Michael's bedroom window earlier] In my home.

Frank Pentangeli: Michael, when I heard I almost died...

Michael Corleone: [yells] IN MY HOME! IN MY BEDROOM! Where my wife sleeps... and my children play with their toys.

Michael Corleone: 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: Keep 'em alive.

Rocco Lampone: We'll try.

Michael Corleone: ROCCO! ALIVE!

Michael Corleone: I trust these men with my life, Senator. To ask them to leave would be an insult.

Michael Corleone: He was stupid. I was lucky. I will visit him soon.

Al Neri: Our friend and associate Hyman Roth is in the news. The High Court of Israel turned down his request to live there as a returning Jew. He landed in Buenos Aires last night offering a "gift" of a million dollars if they'd let him stay. They said no. His passport's been invalidated, except for his return trip to the States.

Tom Hagen: He'll try Panama next.

Michael Corleone: Panama won't take him. Not for a million, not for ten million.

Michael Corleone: Anthony, I'm going to be leaving very early tomorrow.

Anthony Corleone: Will you take me?

Michael Corleone: No, I can't.

Anthony Corleone: Why do you have to go?

Michael Corleone: Because I have to do business.

Anthony Corleone: I could help you.

Michael Corleone: Someday you will.

Tom Hagen: It would be like trying to kill the President; there's no way we can get to him.

Michael Corleone: Tom, you know you surprise me. If anything in this life is certain - if history has taught us anything - it's that you can kill *anybody*.

Kay: 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.

Michael Corleone: I know. I'm trying, darling.

Michael Corleone: He's has been dying from the same heart attack for the last twenty years.

Michael Corleone: I'll change; I'll change. I've learned that I have the strength to change.

Senator Pat Geary: You can have the license. The price is $250,000... plus a monthly payment of 5% of the gross... of all four hotels... Mr. Corleone

Michael Corleone: Now, the price of the license is less than $20,000. Is that correct?

Senator Pat Geary: Yes.

Michael Corleone: So why would I ever consider paying more than that?

Senator Pat Geary: Because I intend to squeeze you.

Michael Corleone: Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgment.

Michael Corleone: Never let anyone know what you are thinking.

Michael Corleone: Just when I thought I was out... they pull me back in.

Michael Corleone: Friends and money - oil and water.

Michael Corleone: I, uh, betrayed my wife. I betrayed myself. I've killed men, and I ordered men to be killed. No, it's useless. I killed... I ordered the death of my brother; he injured me. I killed my mother's son. I killed my father's son.

Michael Corleone: When they come... they come at what you love.

Michael Corleone: I feel... I'm getting wiser now.

Kay Corleone: The sicker you get, the wiser you get, huh?

Michael Corleone: When I'm dead, I'm gonna be really smart.

Vincent Mancini: [in the helicopter] I'd like to take Joey Zasa up in one of these and drop him.

Michael Corleone: Joey Zasa is nothing. He's a small-time enforcer. He bluffs, threats, but nothing. You can see him coming a mile away.

Vincent Mancini: We should kill him before he kills...

Michael Corleone: No! Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgment.

Michael Corleone: Your enemies always get strong on what you leave behind.

Michael Corleone: [after learning of Zasa's assassination] Don't ever give an order like that again. Not while I'm alive.

Vincent Mancini: Uncle Mike, it had to be done. You were too sick to make a decision. I got the go ahead from Neri and Connie.

Michael Corleone: Connie.

Vincent Mancini: It was the right thing to do.

Michael Corleone: It was not the right thing to do. I command this family, right or wrong. It was not what I wanted! Understand?

Vincent Mancini: Yes.

[Michael looks at Neri]

Al Neri: Yes.

[Michael looks at Connie for a long time]

Connie: Yes!

Michael Corleone: Vincent, help me to my bed. I want to talk to you alone.

Michael Corleone: [Vincent helps Michael into his bed] 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: [to Mary] I would burn in hell to keep you safe.

Don Lucchesi: It's not personal. It's business.

Michael Corleone: Very well. You want to do business with me. I will do business with you.

Michael Corleone: He'd better be careful. It's dangerous to be a honest man.

Vincent Mancini: You had a gun. They only had a knife. You could have talked them into surrendering. Turned them over to the police.

Vincent Mancini: Hey, Uncle Mike, Zasa sent these guys I was just sending him a message that's all.

Michael Corleone: Now he has to send you a message back.

Vincent Mancini: Joey Zasa's gonna send me a message? Joey Zasa's gonna send me a message?

Connie: Michael, he did the right thing. He got Zasa's name.

Michael Corleone: What's Joey Zasa got to do this this? Joey Zasa's a patso. Joey Zasa. Alright, you are what you are. It's in your nature. From now on you stick close to me. You don't go anywhere, you don't do anything, you don't talk to anyone without checking with me first, understand?

Vincent Mancini: Yeah.

Michael Corleone: I've got problems with the commission, young man!

Vincent Mancini: Yeah, I know.

Michael Corleone: You don't make them any easier.

Vincent Mancini: I know.

Michael Corleone: Alright, go on. Get out of here.

Connie: Michael.

Michael Corleone: Yes.

Connie: Now they'll fear you.

Michael Corleone: Maybe they should fear you.

B.J. Harrison: [about the pope; before the opera] The Pope's doing exactly what you said he'd do, he's cleaning house.

Michael Corleone: He should be careful. It's dangerous to be an honest man.

Michael Corleone: I spent my life protecting my son. I spent my life protecting my family!

Kay Corleone: Let's be reasonable here, Michael. I mean, that's your big thing, isn't it? Reason backed up by murder.

Michael Corleone: Oh, God, you hate me. You hate me.

Kay Corleone: No, I don't hate you, Michael. I dread you.

Michael Corleone: I did what I could, Kay, to protect all of you from the horrors of this world.

Kay Corleone: But you became my horror. The children still love you, though. Especially Mary.

Michael Corleone: Well, that's something. We can build on that. For their sake. Let's try.

Kay Corleone: Only if you let Tony go to live his own life. Away from you.

Michael Corleone: I'll let Tony go.

Kay Corleone: Thank you.

Joey Zasa: The Miucci association and elected you their Italian American man of the year.

[hands Michael a plaque]

Michael Corleone: Oh, Miucci. Who's Miucci?

Joey Zasa: He's the Italian American who invented the telephone. He did it one year before Alexander Graham Bell.

Michael Corleone: Oh. And this is the reason you have come to my home on this day.

Joey Zasa: I have a stone in my shoe, Mr. Corleone. A two-bit punk who works for me. Who thinks he's related to you. A bastard.

Al Neri: He's here. Vincent Mancini. He's at the party.

Michael Corleone: Well, bring him in.

Joey Zasa: I think it's good that we talk. I have a problem. Now I have to find out if it is my problem or your problem.

Michael Corleone: Joey, your business is your business. I have no interest, no percentages. I'm out.

Joey Zasa: Good, then it is my problem.

Connie: [Connie and Vincent enter] Michael, you know Vincent Mancini. Sonny's boy.

Vincent Mancini: Hey, how you doin' Mr. Corleone.

Michael Corleone: How you doing.

Vincent Mancini: I'm doin' good. How you doin'?

Michael Corleone: Good.

Vincent Mancini: Nice party.

Michael Corleone: Oh, you like it?

Vincent Mancini: Yeah, I had to sneak in.

Michael Corleone: Well, you dressed for it. What's the trouble between you and Mr. Joe Zasa?

Vincent Mancini: Just trouble. I'll take care of it.

Michael Corleone: That's foolish of you.

Vincent Mancini: Foolish of me? It's a little foolish of this guy don't you think? Right? RIGHT!

Michael Corleone: Temper like his father. Vincent, Mr. Joe Zasa now owns what used to be the Corleone family business in New York. Out of the kindness of his heart he gave you a job with his family. Contrary to my advice you took the job. I offered you something better. Something in the legitimate world. You turned me down. Now you both come to me with this bad blood. What do you expect me to do? Am I a gangster?

Vincent Mancini: No, no, you're not a gangster, Uncle Mike.

Connie: Michael, that's Papa's old neighborhood now it's a sewer. Zasa runs it like a disgrace the ladies told me.

Vincent Mancini: Well you tell him from me, that he can live, or he can die.

Michael Corleone: Vincent, will you SHUT UP!

Michael Corleone: Nephew, from this moment on, call yourself Vincent Corleone.

Vincent Mancini: I am your son. Command me in all things.

Michael Corleone: Give up my daughter. That is the price you pay for the life you choose.

Michael Corleone: What's wrong with being a lawyer?

Kay Corleone: Nothing, except he doesn't want it. He loves music he wants his life to be in music.

Michael Corleone: Well, music is great. I love music but he should finish what he started. Anthony.

Anthony Vito Corleone: I'm going my own way.

Michael Corleone: Your own way.

Anthony Vito Corleone: Uh-huh.

Michael Corleone: Professional singer.

Anthony Vito Corleone: That's right.

Michael Corleone: And what happens if you fail.

Anthony Vito Corleone: I won't fail.

Michael Corleone: Men always believe that. With a law degree you're taking on insurance. After that you can do anything you want. You can work for me.

Anthony Vito Corleone: I will never work for you. I have bad memories.

Michael Corleone: All families have bad memories.

Anthony Vito Corleone: I will always be your son, but I will never have anything to do with your business.

Michael Corleone: Anthony, finish the law degree.

Anthony Vito Corleone: No.

Kay Corleone: That he got from you. That "no."

Michael Corleone: You could have helped me, Kay. You could have helped me to convince him.

Kay Corleone: Convince him of what?

Michael Corleone: He throws his life away. He throws greatness away!

Kay Corleone: This is greatness? 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.

Michael Corleone: Alright, can we talk now? Common sense?

Kay Corleone: Alright. Tony knows you killed Fredo.

Michael Corleone: Why did you come here?

Kay Corleone: I came here to protect my son. I didn't come here to see you disguised by your church. I thought that was a shameful ceremony.

[Michael is kneeling alone in a room at the corpse of Don Tommasino in a coffin]

Michael Corleone: Goodbye my old friend. You could have lived a little longer, I could be closer to my dream. You were so loved, Don Tommasino. Why was I so feared, and you so loved? What was it? I was no less honorable. I wanted to do good. What betrayed me? My mind? My heart? Why do I condemn myself so? I swear, on the lives of my children: Give me a chance to redeem myself, and I will sin, no more.

Michael Corleone: The higher I go, the crookeder it becomes.

[first lines]

Michael Corleone: [voiceover] My dear children: It is now better than several years since I moved to New York, and I haven't seen you as much as I would like to. I hope you will come to the ceremony of papal honors given for my charitable work. The only wealth in this world is children; more than all the money, power on earth, you are my treasure.

Don Altobello: Treachery is everywhere.

Michael Corleone: You still have your fingers on the strings, even now.

Johnny Fontaine: It's your favorite song, Michael, where you going?

Michael Corleone: I'm just gonna go into the kitchen and listen to some Tony Bennett records.

Michael Corleone: Italian politics have had these men for centuries. They are the true Mafia.

Joey Zasa: I earned that territory with my talent. The commission gave it to me. You approved.

Michael Corleone: Yes.

Vincent Mancini: Hey, Uncle Mike, I'm just here for the party. I didn't come here to ask for help. I could just kill this bastard. He's the one who should be asking for help.

Michael Corleone: Then kill him. What does this have to do with me?

Vincent Mancini: Well, he's going around your back saying "fuck Michael Corleone." That's what it has to do with you.

Vincent Mancini: [to Zasa] Say it to his face one time. ONE TIME!

Joey Zasa: Mr. Corleone, all bastards are liars Shakespear wrote poems about them.

Vincent Mancini: What am I gonna do with this guy. WHAT!

Michael Corleone: Joey, if there is someone going around this city saying "fuck Michael Corleone" what do we do with a piece of shit like this? He's a fuckin' dog.

Joey Zasa: Yes, if someone were to say such a thing they would not be a friend, they would be a dog.

Michael Corleone: My interests don't conflict with Mr. Joe Zasa's.

Vincent Mancini: Oh yes they do, Uncle Mike. More than you know.

Connie: Michael, he needs your support!

Vincent Mancini: Hey, Uncle Mike, don't make me work for this guy no more. I come work for you.

Michael Corleone: For me? As what? A tough guy? I don't need tough guys. I need more lawyers. Joey, since we have no conflicts no debts I accept your tribute. I wish you well. Vincent, come make your peace with Mr. Joe Zasa.

Joey Zasa: [Vincent hugs Zasa] Bastarde.

Michael Corleone: [Vincent bites Zasa's ear and Zasa's is taken out of the office] Jesus! Shut it, shut it, shut it.

Vincent Mancini: Hey Uncle Mike this wasn't the time for this. I mean, I know you're into bankers and Wall Street and your word is gold but I just want to protect you from this guy and your lawyers can't do that.

Michael Corleone: But you can.

Vincent Mancini: Yeah, I can.

Michael Corleone: And why should I be afraid of Joe Zasa?

Vincent Mancini: Because he knows you're keeping him from moving up in the commission. I say we make him dead. You give the word and I'll take care of it myself.

Michael Corleone: Maybe you should come with me for a few weeks. See what happens. See how much you learn. Then, we'll talk about your future.

Vincent Mancini: I won't let you down.

Michael Corleone: Alright, go on.

Michael Corleone: Kay, I had a very different destiny planned for us.

Michael Corleone: I swear on the lives of my children, give me one last chance to redeem myself and I will sin no more.

Michael Corleone: [delirious] Altobello, you FUCK! You deceitful old fuck!

Michael Corleone: Joey Zasa's a pazzo!

Michael Corleone: If someone is going around this city saying, "Fuck Michael Corleone," what do we do with a piece of shit like that? He's a fuckin' dog.

Joey Zasa: Yes, it's true. If someone were to say such a thing, they would not be a friend. They would be a dog.

Michael Corleone: Do you still fear me Kay?

Kay Corleone: I don't fear you Michael, I just dread you.

Connie: Now they'll fear you. Michael.

Michael Corleone: Maybe they should fear YOU!

Michael Corleone: Vincent, would you SHADDUP?