Mario Puzo > Quotes

“I'll make him an offer he can't refuse.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“Friendship is everything. Friendship is more than talent. It is more than the government. It is almost the equal of family.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“Great men are not born great, they grow great . . .”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgment.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“Revenge is a dish that tastes best when served cold.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“A man who doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“A friend should always underestimate your virtues and an enemy overestimate your faults”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“The lawyer with the briefcase can steal more money than the man with the gun.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“Do you believe a man can truly love a woman and constantly betray her? Never mind physically but betray her in his mind, in the very "poetry of his soul". Well, it's not easy but men do it all the time.”
― Mario Puzo, Fools Die

“I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“I don't trust society to protect us, I have no intention of placing my fate in the hands of men whose only qualification is that they managed to con a block of people to vote for them.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“You cannot say 'no' to the people you love, not often. That's the secret. And then when you do, it has to sound like a 'yes'. Or you have to make them say 'no.' You have to take time and trouble.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“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, The Godfather

“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, The Godfather

“Never let anyone know what you are thinking.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“Accidents don't happen to people who take accidents as a personal insult.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“He smelled the garden, the yellow shield of light smote his eyes, and he whispered, "Life is so beautiful."
...
Yes, he thought, if I can die saying, "Life is so beautiful," then nothing else is important.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“Behind every successful fortune there is a crime.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“Keep your friends close but your enemies closer.”
― Mario Puzo

“Never get angry. Never make a threat. Reason with people.”
― Mario Puzo

“Many young men started down a false path to their true destiny. Time and fortune usually set them aright.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“Love is like the little red toy wagon you get for your Christmas or your sixth birthday. It makes you deliriously happy and you just can't leave it alone. But sooner or later the wheels come off. Then you leave it in a corner and forget it. Falling in love is great. Being in love is a disaster”
― Mario Puzo, Fools Die

“What is past is past. never go back. Not for excuses. Not for justification, not for happiness. You are what you are, the world is what it is.”
― Mario Puzo, The Last Don

“Time erodes gratitude more quickly than it does beauty!”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“A man who is not a father to his children can never be a real man,”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“Lawyers can steal more money with a briefcase than a thousand men with guns and masks.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“Why should I be afraid now? Strange men have come to kill me ever since I was twelve years old.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“There are things that have to be done and you do them and you never talk about them. You don't try to justify them. They can't be justified. You just do them. Then you forget it.”
― Mario Puzo, The Godfather

“Power isn't everything ...its the only thing.”
― Mario Puzo, The Last Don

“The strength of a family, like the strength of an army, lies in its loyalty to each other.”
― Mario Puzo