When I was young, some women told me they loved me for my long eyelashes. I accepted. Later it was for my wit. Then for my power and money. Then for my talent. Then for my mind-deep. OK, I can handle all of it. The only woman who scares me is the one who loves me for myself alone. I have plans for her. I have poisons and daggers and dark graves in caves to hide her head. She can't be allowed to live. Especially if she's sexually faithful and never lies and always puts me ahead of everything and everyone.
Mario PuzoWhat 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 PuzoHe was a degenerate gambler. That is, a man who gambled simply to gamble and must lose. As a hero who goes to war must die. Show me a gambler and I'll show you a loser, show me a hero and I'll show you a corpse.
Mario PuzoYet, he thought, if I can die saying, "Life is so beautiful," then nothing else is important. If i can believe in myself that much, nothing else matters.
Mario PuzoMichael: Barzini will set me up through somebody close... that, supposedly, I won't suspect. Hagen: Somebody like me. Michael: You're Irish, they won't trust you. Hagen: I'm German-American. Michael: To them that's Irish.
Mario PuzoShe emptied her mind of all thought of herself, of her children, of all anger, of all rebellion, of all questions. Then with a profound and deeply willed desire to believe, to be heard, as she had done every day since the murder of Carlo Rizzi, she said the necessary prayers for the soul of Michael Corleone.
Mario PuzoItalians 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 PuzoGod 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
Mario PuzoGambling is not as destructive as war or as boring as pornography. It is not as immoral as business or as suicidal as watching television. And the percentages are better than religion.
Mario PuzoHe 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 PuzoIt can be argued that man's instinct to gamble is the only reason he is still not a monkey up in the trees.
Mario PuzoLet us be separated by wars and pestilence, death, madness but not by the passing of time.
Mario PuzoThere are things that have to be done and you do them and you don't talk about them. You don't try to justify them. They can't be justified. You just do them. Then you forget them.
Mario PuzoI 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 PuzoDo 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 PuzoThe strength of a family, like the strength of an army, lies in its loyalty to each other.
Mario PuzoWhy should I be afraid now? Strange men have come to kill me ever since I was twelve years old.
Mario PuzoNever show anger at slight,Tell nothing.Earn Respect from everyone by deeds,not Words.Respect the members of your Blood Family.Gambling was Recreation,Not a way to earn a Living.Love your Father,your Mother, your Sister but beware of Loving any other Woman than your Wife.And a Wife was a woman who bore your Children.And once that happened to You,your Life was Forfeit to give them their daily bread
Mario PuzoIf anything in this life is certain...if history has taught us anything, it's that you cn kill anyone.
Mario PuzoI find the only thing that really stands up, better than gambling, better than booze, better than women, is reading.
Mario PuzoThe fact of the matter is that I wanted to hold a grudge in some funny kind of way.Against everybody.
Mario Puzo