Richard Conte Quotes

Mr. Brown Why did you do it, Joe?

Joe McClure I told you, he pulled a gun on me. What did you want me to do?

Mr. Brown With your kind of brain, there's nothing else you could do. I'm trying to run an impersonal business. Killing is very personal. Once it gets started, it's hard to stop.

Joe McClure I guess I'm getting too old to handle a gun.

Mr. Brown Yeah, maybe you're just getting too old, Joe.

Vito How did things ever get so far? I don't know. It was so unfortunate, so unnecessary. Tattaglia lost a son and I lost a son. We're quits, and if Tattaglia agrees, then I'm willing to let things go on the way they were before.

Barzini We're all grateful to Don Corleone for calling this meeting. We all know him as a man of his word. A modest man who will always listen to reason.

Tattaglia Yes, Barzini, he is too modest. He had all the judges and politicians in his pocket, and refused to share them.

Vito When? When did I ever refuse an accommodation? All of you know me here. When did I ever refuse, except one time? And why? Because I believe this drug business is gonna destroy us in the years to come. I mean, it's not like gambling or liquor, even women, which is something that most people want nowadays and it's forbidden to them by the ] in the church. Even the police departments have helped us in the past with gambling and other things. They're gonna refuse to help us when it comes to narcotics. And I believed that then, and I believe that now.

Barzini Times have changed. It's not like the old days when we could do anything we want. A refusal is not the act of a friend. Don Corleone had all the judges and the politicians in New York, and he must share them. He must let us draw the water from the well. Certainly, he can present a bill for such services. After all, we are not ]!

Zaluchi I also don't believe in drugs. For years I paid my people extra so they wouldn't do that kind of business. Somebody comes to them and says, "I have powders. If you put up three, four thousand dollar investment, we can make fifty thousand distributing." So they can't resist. I want to control it as a business, to keep it respectable. I don't want it near schools! I don't want it sold to children! That's an infamia. In my city, we would keep the traffic in the ], the coloreds. They're animals anyway, so let them lose their souls.

Vito I hoped that we would come here and reason together. And as a reasonable man, I'm willing to do whatever is necessary to find a peaceful solution to these problems.

Barzini Then we are agreed. The traffic in drugs will be permitted, but controlled, and Don Corleone will give us protection in the east, and there will be the peace.

Tattaglia But I must have strict assurance from Corleone. As time goes by and his position becomes stronger, will he attempt any individual vendetta?

Barzini Look, we are all reasonable men here. We don't have to give assurances as if we were lawyers.

Vito You talk about vengeance. Is vengeance going to bring your son back to you or my boy to me? I forgo the vengeance on my son. But I have selfish reasons. My youngest son was forced to leave this country because of all this Sollozzo business. All right. And I have to make arrangements to bring him back here safely, cleared of all these false charges. But I'm a superstitious man, and if some unlucky accident should befall him—if he should get shot in the head by a police officer, or if he should hang himself in his jail cell, or if he's struck by a bolt of lightning—then I'm going to blame some of the people in this room. And that I do not forgive. But that aside, let me say that I swear on the souls of my grandchildren that I will not be the one to break the peace that we have made here today.

Leonard Diamond She's under arrest, Mr. Brown.

Mr. Brown What's the charge?

Leonard Diamond Homicide.

Mr. Brown That's ridiculous, she wouldn't kill a fly.

Leonard Diamond She tried to kill herself.

Mr. Brown Is that a crime?

Leonard Diamond It happens to be against two laws: God's and Man's. I'm booking her under the second.

Mr. Brown Now, Bennie, who runs the world? Do you have any idea?

Bennie Smith Not me, Mr. Brown.

Mr. Brown That's right, not you, but a funny thing, they're not so much different from you, but they've got something. They've got it, and they use it. I've got it. He hasn't. What is it, Benny? What makes the difference...? Hate! Hate is the word, Benny! Hate the man that tries to beat you. Kill em, Benny! Kill em! Hate him till you see red, and you'll come out winning the big money, and the girls will come tumblin after. You'll have to shut off the phone and lock the door to get a night's rest.

Mr. Brown I'm gonna give you a break. I'm gonna fix it, so you don't hear the bullets.

Mr. Brown Joe, tell the man I'm gonna break him so fast, he won't have time to change his pants. Tell him the next time I see him, he'll be in the lobby of the hotel, crying like a baby and asking for a ten dollar loan. Tell him that. And tell him I don't break my word.

Leonard Diamond You must have done something pretty fine to get as high as you are, Mr. Brown. I'm looking into that. I'm gonna open you up, and I'm gonna operate. I hate to think of what I'll find.

Mr. Brown So you lost. Next time you'll win. I'll show you how. Take a look at Joe McClure here. He used to be my boss, now I'm his. What's the difference between me and him? We breathe the same air, sleep in the same hotel. He used to own it! Now it belongs to me. We eat the same steaks, drink the same bourbon. Look, same manicure. Same cufflinks. But there's only one difference. We don't get the same girls. Why? Because women know the difference. They got instinct. First is first, and second is nobody.

Mr. Brown Where'd you get that outfit?

Susan Lowell What's wrong with it?

Mr. Brown I like you better in white. You've got a dozen white dresses. Why don't you wear them?

Susan Lowell White doesn't please me anymore.

Mr. Brown A woman dresses for a man. You dress for me. Go put on something white!

Mr. Brown Book me, Small Change.

Leonard Diamond Alright, take him out, Sam.

Sam Hill To the bullpen?

Leonard Diamond No, back to the gutter.

Mr. Brown If they take you to police headquarters, shoot yourself in the head. It'll make everything a lot simpler.

Joe McClure Mr. Brown is a very reasonable man. You don't know him.

Leonard Diamond Oh, is he? Well I'm not. I intend to make life very difficult for your Mr. Brown.

Joe McClure You shouldn't talk like that, Lieutenant. You're overstepping your authority.

Mr. Brown Joe, the man has reason to hate me. His salary is $96.50 a week. The busboys in my hotel make better money than that. Don't you see, Joe? He's a righteous man.

Leonard Diamond I'll wait until I can put you on trial for murder.

Mr. Brown Whose murder, Lieutenant?

Leonard Diamond Mine, if necessary.

Mr. Brown Don't push too hard.

Leonard Diamond It's my sworn duty to push too hard.

Mr. Brown Diamond, the only trouble with you is, you'd like to be me. You'd like to have my organization, my influence, my fix. You can't. It's impossible. You think it's money, it's not. It's personality. You haven't got it, Lieutenant, you're a cop. Slow, steady, intelligent, with a bad temper, and a gun under your arm. And with a big yen for a girl you can't have. First is first, and second is nobody.