From a profile of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff in the Washington Post this week :
Jack Abramoff liked to slip into dialogue from “The Godfather” as he led his lobbying colleagues in planning their next conquest on Capitol Hill. In a favorite bit, he would mimic an ice-cold Michael Corleone facing down a crooked politician’s demand for a cut of Mafia gambling profits: “Senator, you can have my answer now if you like. My offer is this: nothing.”
From The Wu-Tang Manual: Enter the 36 Chambers, Volume One by The RZA:
If you look at Vito Corleone, he was a great godfather because he was ruthless and he was fair. And when he was ruthless, his ruthlessness was part of his fairness. I may have caught that lesson first in the movie, but believe me, I saw it over and over again in real life. I wanted to be Vito Corleone and I modeled myself after him in a lot of ways.
When I went in to shop the Wu-Tang Clan to labels, I was going in to make them an offer they couldn’t refuse. It wasn’t that they’d get whacked if they turned me down. It was that I was too strong, had too much intention. I was too certain to be refused.
From Take the Cannoli by Sarah Vowell:
The Godfather is a film crammed with rules for living. Don’t bow down to big shots. It’s good when people owe you. This drug business is dangerous. Is vengeance going to bring your son back to you or my boy to me? And then there is the grandeur, the finality, the conviction of the mantra “Never tell anybody outside the family what you’re thinking again.”
That last one was a rule I myself could follow. Not only did I not tell anyone outside of my family was I was thinking, I was pretty tight-lipped with family too.