The Godfather Part III (1990) - Quotes

The Nature of Real Power

Taglines: Real power can't be given. It must be taken.

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Power and Destiny in The Godfather Part III

Taglines: All the power on earth can't change destiny.

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Conflicting Expressions of Love

Mary Corleone: I'll always love you.

Vincent Mancini: Love somebody else.

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A Shift in Legacy and Loyalty

Vincent Mancini: I am your son. Command me in all things.

Michael Corleone: Give up my daughter. It's the price you pay for the life you choose.

Vincent: Done.

Michael: Nephew, from this moment, call yourself Vincent Corleone.

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Power Struggles Amidst Uncertainty of Leadership

Archbishop Gilday: The Pope is gravely ill. Until he recovers, I am powerless.

B.J. Harrison: What if he dies?

Frederick Keinszig: Then, as you Americans say, all bets are off.

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The Risks of Honesty in Power

B.J. Harrison: [about the newly ordained [[Pope John Paul I] The Pope's doing exactly what you said he'd do, he's cleaning house.

Michael Corleone: He should be careful. It's dangerous to be an honest man.

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The Power of Finance and Politics

Vincent Mancini: Don Lucchesi, you are a man of finance and politics. These things I don't understand.

Don Lucchesi: You understand guns?

Vincent: Yes.

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

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Seeking Forgiveness in Complex Relationships

Michael Corleone: I want you to forgive me.

Kay Adams-Corleone: For what?

Michael: Everything.

Kay: Like God, huh?

Michael: I need something a little closer. You could never understand, back in those days. I loved my father. I swore I would never be a man like him, but I loved him, and he was in danger. What could I do? Then, later, you were in danger, our children were in danger. What could I do? You were all I loved and valued in the world, and now I'm losing you — I've lost you anyway, and it was all for nothing, so... You have to understand, I had a whole different destiny planned. Alright, I'll stop.

Kay: [crying] I really don't know what you want from me, Michael. I really don't know.

Michael: I'm not the man you think I am.

Kay: I just don't know...

Michael: I love you, Kay. You know, every night here in Sicily, I dream of my wife and my children, and how I lost them.

Kay: I guess, if it's any consolation, Michael... I want you to know that I've always loved you, and... and I always will.

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Lingering Memories of Past Relationships

Michael Corleone: I spent a lot of time in this room, thinking of you.

Kay Adams-Corleone: And then you got married.

Michael: I still thought of you.

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Power Struggles Within the Corleone Family

Michael Corleone: [after learning of Zasa's assassination] Don't ever again give that kind of order. Not while I'm alive. You understand?

Vincent Mancini: Uncle Mike, it had to be done. You were too sick to make a decision. I got the go-ahead from Neri. I got the go-ahead from Connie.

Michael: Connie.

Vincent: It was the right thing to do.

Michael: It was the wrong thing to do. I command this family, right or wrong. It was not what I WANTED! Understand?

Vincent: Yes.

Al Neri: Yes.

Connie Corleone-Rizzi: Yes!

Michael: [in his room] Vincent, help me to my bed. I want to talk to you alone. Your father, my brother...he and I. Opposites. But I never doubted his love. He would do anything for me. But his temper. It was too much. Clouded his judgement. I don't want to see the same thing happen to you.

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A Conversation on Redemption and Confession

Cardinal Lamberto: Would you like to make your confession?

Michael Corleone: Your eminence, I'm— It's been so long. I wouldn't know where to— It's been 30 years. I'd use up too much of your time, I think.

Lamberto: I always have time to save souls.

Michael: Oh, I'm beyond redemption.

Lamberto: I hear the confessions of my own priests here. Sometimes the desire to confess is overwhelming, and we must seize the moment.

Michael: What is the point of confessing if I don't repent?

Lamberto: I hear you are a practical man. What have you got to lose, huh? Go on.

Michael: I— I betrayed my wife.

Lamberto: Go on, my son.

Michael: I betrayed myself. I killed men, and I ordered men to be killed.

Lamberto: Go on, my son. Go on.

Michael: Ah, it's useless.

Lamberto: Go on, my son.

Michael: [choking up; sobbing] I killed— I ordered the death of my brother. He injured me. I killed my mother's son. I killed my father's son!

Lamberto: Your sins are terrible, and it is just that you suffer. Your life could be redeemed, but I know you do not believe that. You will not change. Ego te absolvo in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.

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Reflections on Wisdom and Mortality

Michael Corleone: I feel... I'm getting wiser now.

Kay Adams-Corleone: The sicker you get, the wiser you get, huh?

Michael: When I'm dead, I'm gonna be really smart.

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The Danger of Hatred in Business Decisions

Vincent Mancini: [in a helicopter] I'd like to take Joey Zasa up in one of these and drop him.

Michael Corleone: Joey Zasa is nothing. He's a small-time enforcer. He bluffs, he threatens, but nothing. You can see him coming a mile away.

Vincent: We should kill him before he kills...

Michael: No! Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgment.

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Treachery and Control in The Godfather Part III

Don Altobello: Treachery is everywhere.

Michael Corleone: You still have your fingers on the strings, even now.

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Strategic Decisions in Organized Crime

Michael Corleone: Joe Zasa would never pull something like this without backing. He doesn't have the wit for that helicopter attack. He doesn't even have the ambition to wipe out the whole Commission. Certainly not the balls.

Vincent Mancini: I say we hit back and take Zasa out!

Michael: [leaning to Vincent; to Vincent, Connie and Neri] Never let anyone know what you're thinking. All right, let's get a ... let's get a message to Joey Zasa. I respect what he's done. The new overthrows the old, it's natural.

Vincent: How can you do business with this guy?

Michael: I'm a businessman, first and foremost. I want no conflict with anyone.

Vincent: Well, you can tell him from me that he can live or he can die.

Michael: Vincent, WILL YOU SHUT UP?!

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Gangsters Discuss Reputation and Legitimacy

Michael Corleone: [the assembled Dons laugh] You all know Joey Zasa. He is, I admit, an important man. His picture is on the cover of the New York Times Magazine. He gets the Esquire Magazine award for the best dressed gangster. The newspapers praise him because he hires the blacks into his family, which shows he has a good heart. Who knows, maybe someday he will make all of you popular.

Joey Zasa: [walks around the table] It's true, I make more of a bella figura. That is my nature. But I also want to make a move into legitimate enterprises. I also want a pin from the Pope. Sure, I take the blacks and the Spanish into my family, because that's America.

Michael: And you guarantee that they don't deal the drugs in those neighborhoods?

Joey: I don't guarantee that. I guarantee that I'll kill anyone who does.

Don Altobello: [to Michael, nervously] Let me talk to him.

Michael: Who can refuse Don Altobello?

Don Altobello: Joey...

Joey: [angry] No! I say to all of you that I have been treated this day with no respect! I've made you all money. And I asked for little. Good. You won't give, I'll take! As for Don Corleone, he has made it very clear today that he is my enemy! You must choose between us.

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Power Struggles and Miscommunication

Michael Corleone: You had a gun. They only had a knife. You could have talked them into surrendering. Turned them over to the police.

Vincent Mancini: Hey, Uncle Mike, Zasa sent these guys I was just sending him a message that's all.

Michael: Now he has to send you a message back.

Vincent: Joey Zasa's gonna send me a message? Joey Zasa's gonna send me a message?

Connie Corleone-Rizzi: Michael, he did the right thing. He got Zasa's name.

Michael: What's Joey Zasa got to do this this? Joey Zasa's a patso. Joey Zasa. Alright, you are what you are. It's in your nature. From now on you stick close to me. You don't go anywhere, you don't do anything, you don't talk to anyone without checking with me first, understand?

Vincent: Yeah.

Michael: I've got problems with the commission, young man!

Vincent: Yeah, I know.

Michael: You don't make them any easier.

Vincent: I know.

Michael: Alright, go on. Get out of here.

Connie: Michael.

Michael: Yes.

Connie: Now they'll fear you.

Michael: Maybe they should fear you.

Gambling Confidence in Atlantic City

Vincent Mancini: You like to gamble? Why don't we go to Atlantic City? My town. I'll show you how to gamble.

Grace Hamilton: Yeah, but I like to win. How will I know what numbers to pick?

Vincent: Do I look like a guy who's gonna lose?

The Illusion of Greatness in Power

Michael Corleone: You could have helped me, Kay. You could have helped me to convince him.

Kay Adams-Corleone: Convince him of what?

Michael: He throws his life away. He throws greatness away.

Kay: This is greatness? You know, Michael, now that you're so respectable I think you're more dangerous than you ever were. In fact, I preferred you when you were just a common Mafia hood.

Michael: Alright, now can we talk common sense?

Kay: Alright.

Michael: Okay.

Kay: Tony knows you killed Fredo.

Michael: [beat, angry] Why did you come here?

Kay: I came here to protect my son. I didn't come here to see you disguised by your church. I thought that was a shameful ceremony.

Michael: I spent my life protecting my son. I spent my life protecting my family-!

Kay: Let's be reasonable here, Michael. I mean, that's your big thing, isn't it? Reason...backed up by murder.

Michael: Oh, God... God, you hate me. You hate me.

Kay: No, I don't hate you, Michael. I dread you.

Michael: I did what I could...to protect...all of you from the horrors of the world.

Kay: But you became my horror.

A Moment of Musical Distraction

Johnny Fontane: Michael, it's your favorite song! Where are you going?

Michael Corleone: [[w:Tony Bennett|Tony Bennett] I'm just gonna go into the kitchen and listen to some ] records.

Reflections on Redemption and Honor

Michael Corleone: [at Don Tommasino's funeral] Goodbye, my old friend. You could have lived a little longer; I could be closer to my dream. You were so loved, Don Tommasino. Why was I so feared, and you so loved? What was it? I was no less honorable. I wanted to do good. What betrayed me? Was it my mind? My heart? Why do I condemn myself so? I swear on the lives of my children: Give me a chance to redeem myself, and I will sin no more.