Quotes from Mario Puzo

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.

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.

Never let anyone know what you are thinking.

Accidents don't happen to people who take accidents as a personal insult.

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.

Behind every successful fortune there is a crime.

Never get angry. Never make a threat. Reason with people.

Many young men started down a false path to their true destiny. Time and fortune usually set them aright.

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

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.

Time erodes gratitude more quickly than it does beauty!

Lawyers can steal more money with a briefcase than a thousand men with guns and masks.

A man who is not a father to his children can never be a real man

Why should I be afraid now? Strange men have come to kill me ever since I was twelve years old.

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

We are all honorable men here, we do not have to give each other assurances as if we were lawyers.

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.