Readers Write and The Godfather

From readers . . .

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From Sandy, commenting on the old Bankstown photographs:

Hi Otto, 

Loved the old pictures of Bankstown, I grew up in Panania, so Bankstown was our local “Big” shopping centre for us during the 60’s just after it was built. Sadly we were quite poor, didn’t have a camera and if we did, we couldn’t have afforded the developing. Sad….Remember in those days the female workers got female wages, it wasen’t until around 1970 when our wages went up to men’s wages. I was getting $34.00 per week, then went up to mens wages of $50.00 per week. Heaven. 

Cheers 

Sandy

Thanks Sandy.

Some more past Bankstown pics:

Bankstown Council road plant - pre mechanisation, c. 1930

Bankstown Plaza, 1946

77 Sir Joseph Banks Street, c1961

Bankstown Square Shopping Centre, 1960s

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From Tobye, in response to my posting some lawyer jokes and a Mario Puzo quote:

Hey Otto, all great but the pig and cow made me laugh out loud!

Have you read “The Godfather” One of my favorite movies, but the book has a lot more detail and sub-plots, and is worth a look. He’s not a great writer, but it’s a great story. I read that he said that if he’d had any idea it would be so popular that he would have written a better book!

Regards, Tobye

Thanks Tobye. 

I remember reading The Godfather when it first came out.

Following are some quotes from the book, subtitled “Everything I know of life I learned from The Godfather.”

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Quotes from The Godfather, by Mario Puzo:

“I'll make him an offer he can't refuse.”

“Friendship is everything. Friendship is more than talent. It is more than the government. It is almost the equal of family.”

“Great men are not born great, they grow great . . .”

“Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgment.”

“Revenge is a dish that tastes best when served cold.”

(For those who want to tell me that it is a Klingon proverb quoted in Kill Bill, there are uses that predate that film:

Kind Hearts and Coronets, 1949: "Revenge is a dish which people of taste prefer to eat cold."

The Godfather, 1969: Don Corleone nodded. "Revenge is a dish that tastes best when it is cold," he said.

Star Trek II, The Wrath of Kahn, 1982: Kirk, old friend, do you know the Klingon proverb, "Revenge is a dish best served cold"?

“A friend should always underestimate your virtues and an enemy overestimate your faults”

“A man who doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man.”

“The lawyer with the briefcase can steal more money than the man with the gun.”

“You cannot say 'no' to the people you love, not often. That's the secret. And then when you do, it has to sound like a 'yes'. Or you have to make them say 'no.' You have to take time and trouble.”

“I don't trust society to protect us, I have no intention of placing my fate in the hands of men whose only qualification is that they managed to con a block of people to vote for them.”

“Italians have a little joke, that the world is so hard a man must have two fathers to look after him, and that's why they have godfathers.”

“Tom, don't let anybody kid you. It's all personal, every bit of business. Every piece of shit every man has to eat every day of his life is personal. They call it business. OK. But it's personal as hell. You know where I learned that from? The Don. My old man. The Godfather. If a bolt of lightning hit a friend of his the old man would take it personal. He took my going into the Marines personal. That's what makes him great. The Great Don. He takes everything personal Like God. He knows every feather that falls from the tail of a sparrow or however the hell it goes? Right? And you know something? Accidents don't happen to people who take accidents as a personal insult.”

“He smelled the garden, the yellow shield of light smote his eyes, and he whispered, "Life is so beautiful."

Yes, he thought, if I can die saying, "Life is so beautiful," then nothing else is important.”

“Accidents don't happen to people who take accidents as a personal insult.”

“Many young men started down a false path to their true destiny. Time and fortune usually set them aright.”

“Lawyers can steal more money with a briefcase than a thousand men with guns and masks."

“Time erodes gratitude more quickly than it does beauty!”

“Never let anyone know what you are thinking.”

“Behind every successful fortune; There is Crime.”

“Why should I be afraid now? Strange men have come to kill me ever since I was twelve years old.”

“We are all honorable men here, we do not have to give each other assurances as if we were lawyers.”

“You can't hide the thunderbolt. When it hits you, everybody can see it. Christ, man, don't be ashamed of it, some men pray for the thunderbolt. You're a very lucky fellow.”

“He had long ago learned that society imposes insults that must be borne, comforted by the knowledge that in this world there comes a time when the most humble of men, if he keeps his eyes open, can take his revenge on the most powerful. It was this knowledge that prevented the Don from losing the humility all his friends admired in him.”

“Michael could never remember his father ever having uttered a word about death, as if the Don respected death too much to philosophise about it.”

“It was a lie but he believed in telling lies to people. Truth telling and medicine just didn't go together except in dire emergencies, if then.”

“The other Dons in the room applauded and rose to shake hands with everybody in sight and to congratulate Don Corleone and Don Tattaglia on their new friendship. It was not perhaps the warmest friendship in the world, they would not send each other Christmas gift greetings, but they would not murder each other. That was friendship enough in this world, all that was needed.”