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.

Michael could never remember his father ever having uttered a word about death, as if the Don respected death too much to philosophize about it.

Finance is a gun. Politics is knowing when to pull the trigger.

Some honorable men spend their whole life preparing for a supreme act of treachery

God seemed to be having a hard time killing him, and he'd be damned if he was going to make the job easy for mere mortals

You can't hide the thunderbolt. When it hits you, everybody can see it. Christ, man, don't be ashamed of it, some men pray for the thunderbolt. You're a very lucky fellow. - Calo

It can be argued that man's instinct to gamble is the only reason he is still not a monkey up in the trees.