The Godfather: 10 Best Michael Corleone Quotes | ScreenRant
It speaks volumes about a character when we’re still talking about him thirty years after we lost saw him and almost fifty years after he first debuted. Michael Corleone is such a character as his life was chronicled in The Godfather series.
He was always a tragic figure, one who lost sight of what he’d initially set out to do and ended up alienating everyone around him. Throughout his life, he had many things to say based on what type of character development he was going through, and here are 10 of the best quotes that give you an insight over the type of person Michael was.
10 "You Straightened My Brother Out?"
Before this scene, we’d only seen the tame Michael who could be reasoned with. However, he showed why he was a force to be reckoned with when confronting Moe Greene. After he found out Moe had hit Fredo, Michael had no thoughts other than rage.
Despite Moe arguing that he had smacked Fredo around because the latter had been messing with waitresses, Michael only repeated Moe’s lines for straightening his brother out. Even Moe, who had a knack for talking his way out of situations, was powerless before Michael’s cutting words.
9 "Vincent, Will You Shut Up!?"
Full points for Al Pacino here who showed off his acting talent well, which made this quote a very memorable one. Vincent, the illegitimate child of Michael’s brother Sonny was given a lot of leeway due to his familial ties.
However, Michael had had enough of Vincent’s self-destructive ways when the latter didn’t help matters at all by chiming in that he wanted Michael to have plans for vengeance. By this point Michael had been trying desperately to become a businessman; hearing Vincent talk to him like a regular gangster angered the otherwise quieter Michael as he exploded on Vincent to be quiet.
8 "I Know It Was You, Fredo. You Broke My Heart. You Broke My Heart."
It was here when Fredo’s fate was effectively sealed as Michael found out that his own brother might have had a hand in an assassination attempt against him. While we’ll never know if Fredo truly did want to get Michael killed, the latter made his decision to do the same to Fredo here.
Pulling his brother in for a kiss -- which was meant to signify the kiss of death -- Michael showed true emotion after a long time by telling his brother he knew of his role. It was both heartbreaking and terrifying to see Michael this way.
7 "That's My Family, Kay. That's Not Me."
Years before he became the Don of the Corleone family Michael tried his best to distance himself away from their criminal dealings. And unlike how secretive he eventually became, Michael was originally very open toward Kay.
The best way he showed this to Kay was by sharing about his father’s exploits and dealings, which involved sharing how Luca Brasi was used as an enforcer. When Kay seemed thunderstruck by the information, Michael confessed he had shared this with her to tell her he wasn’t like his family. Unfortunately, things were not meant to turn out this way.
6 "Fredo, You’re My Older Brother, And I Love You. But Don’t Ever Take Sides With Anyone Against The Family Again. Ever."
The scary thing about Michael wasn’t that he had a lot of henchmen working for him or the political influence he controlled. It was how he had that stone-cold death stare going on that would reduce even the biggest men into obeying him.
Fredo learned this for the first time after Michael’s confrontation with Moe Greene, as he looked to treat Michael as his younger brother. However, Michael had no patience for Fredo’s attempts at scolding him, and instead intimidated Fredo by giving him a warning that going against the family wouldn’t be good for him. As we found out, Michael really was very serious about this.
5 "If Anything In This Life Is Certain, If History Has Taught Us Anything, It Is That You Can Kill Anyone."
By the time of The Godfather Part II, Michael had become so cold that the thought of killing someone didn’t even make him flinch slightly. He’d firmly established in his mind that taking a person out was the easiest solution to things.
When Tom attempted to argue against assassinating Hyman Roth, claiming that the man was too well protected and that not even the president was as well-guarded, Michael shrugged him off. In its place, he argued that nobody was invincible and that the pages of history were telling him that killing was absolutely an option no matter how powerful the target might be.
4 "Only Don't Tell Me That You're Innocent. Because It Insults My Intelligence And It Makes Me Very Angry."
In order to get Carlo to admit that he was the one who got Sonny killed, Michael kept the former close to him for a certain amount of time to make him have a sense of security. After all the heads of the families had been killed, Michael made his move to make Carlo confess.
While Carlo initially tried to pretend that he had been an unwitting pawn in the plans of Don Barzini, he eventually relented, mainly due to this quote from Michael. Giving Carlo the silent but deadly stare, he kept his voice level while making it clear to Carlo that pretending he was innocent was insulting his intelligence. It didn’t matter in the end, though, as Michael still got Carlo killed.
3 "Don't Ever Ask Me About My Business."
This has become one of the more famous quotes from The Godfather series as it highlights Michael’s turn for the worst. While he’d earlier convinced himself he’d gotten the other dons killed as a necessity, him hiding his true intentions from Kay solidified that he liked being Godfather.
So, when Kay asked him if he did indeed have a hand in killing Carlo, Michael was enraged that someone - even if that someone was his wife - would question his authority. He ended up lying to Kay, but even then Michael was the one in control as he made Kay promise she would never ask him about his business.
2 "It's Not Personal, Sonny. It's Strictly Business."
The scene where Michael shoots McClusky and Sollozzo was so famous that it even showed up in the game based on the movie where we instigated this event. In the film, Michael was the one who convinced the others to let him do it.
The impressive thing was how he was able to sway opinions about himself and go through with the plan. Arguing that killing the men wasn’t personal as Sonny thought it to be, Michael justified it by claiming they could turn the story around by making it seem as if he was killing a corrupt cop. It was this knack for manipulating people that eventually got Michael so far.
1 "Just When I Thought I Was Out. They Pull Me Back In."
Sadly for Michael, he’s always going to be associated with being a gangster despite him actually wanting to leave that life the whole time. Even when he was neck-deep in criminal activities Michael had intentions to be out of it.
Due to this, you have to feel for the guy when he realized he was back in the crime game in The Godfather Part III. When Michael came upon this realization, he bitterly voiced it out by saying that he could never shed the gangster life out. Even when he wanted to get away, he was drawn back because of one reason or another.