The Godfather trilogy is full of iconic quotes. Some of them have surprising everyday uses, like “He made him an offer he couldn’t refuse,” or “Don’t ask me about my business.” Others speak to something a little more profound, summing up the barbarity of organized crime (“It’s not personal, Sonny, it’s strictly business”) or encapsulating Michael Corleone’s moral downfall (“Don’t ever take sides with anyone against the family again… ever”). The first film’s opening line tells us the central theme of the entire saga: “I believe in America.”

Whether it’s “sleeping with the fishes” or “the day my daughter is to be married” or the old adage to keep your friends close but your enemies closer, the most memorable quotes from The Godfather trilogy have gone on to define mafia traditions in the cultural consciousness. Francis Ford Coppola knows how to write a line that feels like a gut punch, like Michael telling his traitorous brother, “I know it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart. You broke my heart!” (But, then again, Coppola also wrote the line, “How do you like my boner?”)

But none of these qualify as the greatest quote from The Godfather trilogy. That distinction goes to “Leave the gun, take the cannoli.” At first glance, it might not seem like such a hot line, but it tells us everything we need to know about this story and the world these characters inhabit.

The Godfather Part III Paid Off The Original Movie’s Cannoli Line In Full

The line “Leave the gun, take the cannoli” appears in the first Godfather movie, and it’s spoken by Peter Clemenza, one of Vito Corleone’s closest and most trusted associates. Clemenza says this after carrying out a hit on mobster Paulie Gatto. After Gatto is shot and killed in a car, with the Statue of Liberty gorgeously transposed in the background, belying the movie’s theme of the dark side of the American Dream, Clemenza leaves behind the murder weapon but takes the cannoli because his wife had asked him to bring home some cannoli for dessert.

This line is a classic case of showing instead of telling. Clemenza doesn’t tell us that he treats murder as an everyday chore — a job that he has to balance with his family life at home — but he shows us that haunting dichotomy by being more concerned about his wife’s dessert than the human life he just brutally cut short. Nearly three decades later, The Godfather Part III paid off this line beautifully when Connie killed someone with a poisoned cannoli.

Connie Is One Of The Best Things About The Godfather Part III

The Godfather Part III is generally considered a low point for the franchise. The first Godfather is a timeless masterpiece that changed American cinema, and The Godfather Part II was somehow even better. The sequel went deeper and darker and completed Michael’s journey to becoming a cold-blooded monster. Coppola wanted to leave it there as a duology, but Paramount executives had dollar signs in their eyes and would’ve made a Godfather threequel whether the godfather himself (Coppola) was involved or not. So, Coppola made The Godfather Part III as a coda to Michael’s story, and anyone expecting a Return of the King-style epic finale was sorely disappointed.

But while it’s nowhere near the untouchable masterworks that the first two films were, The Godfather Part III isn’t as bad as it’s made out to be. Andy García gives an incredible turn as Vincent Corleone, the ending is appropriately heartbreaking, and the threequel is easily Connie’s finest hour. Talia Shire was always great in the role, but Connie was often sidelined in the first two movies — largely to show how female voices get silenced in the patriarchal mafioso culture — but in The Godfather trilogy’s third and final entry, Connie gets way more involved in the family business.