How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from The Godfather.
Quote #1
TOM HAGEN: No Sicilian can ever refuse a request on his daughter's wedding day.
Don Corleone grants the requests people make to him—but they're not totally "free." He wants loyalty and future favors in return.
Quote #2
DON CORLEONE: You can act like a man!
[Slaps Johnny Fontane]
DON CORLEONE: What's the matter with you? Is this what you've become, a Hollywood finocchio who cries like a woman? "Oh, what do I do? What do I do?" What is that nonsense? Ridiculous!
"Finocchio" (not to be mistaken for "Pinocchio") is a negative and offensive Italian term for a gay person. Don Corleone is accusing Johnny of having gone soft—it's not the traditional Sicilian way of handling your problems.
Quote #3
TOM HAGEN: […] Right now we have the unions and we have the gambling and those are the best things to have. But narcotics is a thing of the future. If we don't get a piece of that action we risk everything we have. Not now, but ten years from now.
Tom sees that the criminal wave of the future is drugs. But it runs against the Don's sense of code and tradition and would risk his political connections. It's too modern, not traditional enough.