Quotes from Mario Puzo

He 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.

It was from this experience came his oft-repeated belief that every man has but one destiny.

Any man can turn traitor.

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

The only wealth in this world is children, more than all the money, power on earth.

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.

Don had made a fewer mistakes and learned from every one of them

Like many businessmen of genius he learned that free competition was wasteful, monopoly efficient. And so he simply set about achieving that efficient monopoly.

Power wears out those who do not have it.

Power isn't everything ...its the only thing.

there was no greater natural advantage in life than having an enemy overestimate your faults, unless it was to have a friend underestimate your virtues.

If anything in this life is certain...if history has taught us anything, it's that you cn kill anyone.

The strength of a family, like the strength of an army, lies in its loyalty to each other.

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

I believe in America. America's made my fortune.

A lawyer with his briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns.

A man who doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man.

Time erodes gratitude more quickly than it does beauty!

The strength of a family, like the strength of an army, lies in its loyalty to each other.

Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.

Never 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

He'd always been a man who followed his head and not his heart.The heart was just a bloody motor.The head was meant to drive

He had long ago learned that society imposes insults that must be borne, comforted by the knowledge that in this world there comes a time when the most humble of men, if he keeps his eyes open, can take his revenge on the most powerful. It was this knowledge that prevented the Don from losing the humility all his friends admired in him.

Falling in love is great but being in love is a disaster