Thanks to popular culture, the image of a gangster is forever rooted in American, and later in world culture. Hundreds of films have been made about the representatives of organized crime, thousands of novels have been written, and quotes from gangsters are firmly established in everyday life. Here are a few sayings of the great gangsters that really exist and are fictitious.
Quotes of real gangsters
By far, the most famous gangster in history is Al Capone. During the Prohibition Act in the USA, this Italian-American, under the guise of a completely legal furniture business, was able to build a huge criminal empire, engaged in smuggling, racketeering, bootlegging and gambling.
To this day, the name Al Capone is synonymous with a major figure in the criminal world. In the cinema over the past eighty years he was portrayed by such great actors as Robert De Niro and Farid Murray Abraham. Here are a few quotes from the great gangster:
The prison compares favorably with the grave in that its doors someday open.
A bullet changes a lot in the head, even if it hits your ass.
I will give three dozen of my thugs to one person who can solve problems by talking.
Capitalism is the legal racket of the ruling class.
I am the same person as everyone. All I do is satisfy the demand.
All the dead were hanged on me, with the exception of the victims of World War II.
Can the enemy be forgiven? God will forgive! Our task is to arrange their meeting.
Another famous gangster of the Prohibition era is Lucky Luciano. It is to this native of Sicily that the creation of the American mafia is credited. Here's what he thought about his chosen craft:
I realized too late to earn a million honestly, you need as many convolutions to earn it dishonestly. And to inflate a person, today we need a patent.
Godfather
However, quotes from movie gangsters are much more famous. Of course, films about organized crime in Hollywood were shot since the thirties, but the film most famous in our days about the American mafia is The Godfather.
The picture of director Francis Ford Coppola, based on the novel of the same name by Mario Puzo, became a real hit of the box office and for some time was the highest grossing film in history. In addition, the film received many Oscars and made the stars of young actors Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, James Caan and others.
Here are some of the most famous quotes from the movie The Godfather:
My father made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.
Nothing personal. Only business.
Do not hate enemies. Emotions make it difficult to think.
I don't like violence, Tom. I am a businessman. Blood is an inadmissible luxury.
Don’t say that it’s not your fault. It offends my mind.
A man who does not spend time with his family will never become a real man.
A man should never feel careless. Careless may be children and a wife, but not a man.
After the resounding success of the film, the studio decided to shoot the second part, since Coppola did not use the line of young Vito Corleone in the script and there was enough material for the script. “The Godfather 2” is considered one of the greatest sequels in history and, like its predecessor, has received many Academy Award awards and the love of the audience.
Here are a few quotes from the second picture:
I know it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart. You broke my heart!
This is a business that we ourselves have chosen.
Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer.
For me, only my wife and child exist.
Many years after the release of the second part, the filmmakers decided to shoot the third "The Godfather". It turned out to be far from as successful as its predecessors, however, from there you can take note of several quotes of gangsters about life, business and family.
Friendship and money are oil and water.
When they come, they come for those you love.
If he offers you to betray me, disagree, this is a trap.
All my life I tried to rise in society to where everything is legal, honest. But the higher I go, the weaker it becomes.
You can not hate enemies, it distorts the assessment.
Scorsese Movies
Martin Scorsese is one of the greatest directors of our time, according to a sociological survey conducted several years ago, scientists managed to find out that an ordinary American considers him to be the best director of the living. Scorsese became famous precisely thanks to gangster films. He himself grew up in the Little Italy region, where many young people decided to build a career in the underworld, so one of his first films, “Evil Streets”, can easily be attributed to gangster cinema. However, his later paintings, in particular, “Goodfellas,” became real classics.
The “Good Guys” were put to Scorsese based on a documentary novel based on real events, so in a way we can say that these are quotes from gangsters both real and fictional:
As far as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster. For me, being a gangster meant a lot more than being the president of the United States.
He popped bills to anyone who got into it: porters, croupiers. The bartender was already getting a hundred because his ice was cold.
Why don't you make yourself a good girl? ”“ Mom, I get myself a good girl every night.
Another famous gangster movie made by Scorsese based on real events is Casino. Below are a few quotes from there:
When you love someone, you have to trust them. There is no other way. You have to give them the keys to everything you have. Otherwise, what's the point? And for a while I thought just that.
The desert around Vegas is very dark at night. Therefore, most urban problems were solved there. There is a pit at every step, and in each of them lies a problem.
It is always better to dig a hole in advance. Because, you know, you’ll bring a deceased, you will start digging a hole, and this is at least three hours in the middle of the desert, the spectators will run in, do not have time to look around - you need three more holes. So, damn it, you can carry all night.
Usually, when I met Nikki, my chance to stay alive was ninety-nine out of a hundred. Now I rated it as fifty by fifty.
Ten years later, Martin Scorsese returned to films about gangsters, this time he shot a picture of Boston's organized crime. The film "The Departed" brought the director the long-awaited Oscar, and the audience - a new batch of quotes from the gangsters:
I don’t want the environment to create me. I want to create this environment myself.
The church wants you to know your place: on your knees, up, up, down - if you like these things, I don’t know how to help you.
If the barrel of a gun is pointed at you, who you are is completely irrelevant.
Other films
In addition to Coppola and Scorsese, many other directors, especially from the seventies to the nineties, made films about gangsters in which you can find many interesting quotes.
Marked in this field and Brian De Palma. In 1983, he directed a remake of the classic gangster movie Scarface. Here are a few quotes from there:
I always tell the truth. Even when I lie.
Killing a communist is only a joy to me, and for the green card I will cut him as an artist.
Do you want me to waste my time? Ok, I'll call my lawyer. He is the best lawyer in Miami. He is so good that tomorrow morning you will be working in Alaska. Dress warmly.
In general, this is the case. I grew up in a sewage pit, I know it myself. No education, although this is not a problem. I know the street and can make the necessary contacts. Be a woman standing nearby, I can not stop. I will rise to the very top. In general, I wanted to say the following: I like you from the very day I saw you. I said to myself: "She is a tigress, and she is for me." In a word, marry me, I want you to be the mother of my children.
Four years later, the director directed the movie The Untouchables about a special police squad aimed at planting Al Capone. A few quotes from there:
A gun and a kind word can do more than just a kind word.
He is for the knife, you are for the gun. He sends your man to the hospital, you two of him to the morgue.
Tell Mr. Capone that we agreed to disagree.
In the world cinema, you can find many other worthy representatives among films about gangsters and quotes from them. However, these are the most famous and highly regarded examples of the genre, known to every movie buff.