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Mama Corleone
Tom is a lawyer, the Corleone Family Consigliere (councilor), and the unofficially adopted son of Don Vito Corleone and Mama Corleone. Tom is of Irish and German heritage and is the first non-Sicilian to hold the title of Consigliere in the history of the Mafia, a fact that causes the other mob families to refer to the Corleone Family derisively as the “Irish Gang.” As a child, Tom’s alcoholic father abandoned him and his mother died of an eye infection. The orphaned Tom lived on the streets until Sonny found him and brought him to Vito, who took him in but never formally adopted him. Tom grew up alongside Sonny, Michael, Fredo, and Connie. As an adult, Tom graduates from law school and practices as an attorney. Tom’s cunning and legal expertise impresses Don Vito, who offers Tom a role working for the Corleone Family. He accepts Don Vito’s offer because he knows that gaining a prominent foothold in the Corleone Family promises personal wealth and power. In 1945, when the Corleone Family Consigliere Genco Abbandando dies of cancer, Vito formally appoints Hagen to the position. The title grants Hagen immense power and responsibility in the Family’s affairs, especially regarding the conflict between Vito’s godson, Johnny Fontane and the Hollywood producer Jack Woltz. In many ways, Tom Hagen serves as a surrogate for the reader, who shares his status as an outsider permitted an insider’s view of the clandestine world of the Italian-American Mafia.
Thomas “Tom” Hagen Quotes in The Godfather
The The Godfather quotes below are all either spoken by Thomas “Tom” Hagen or refer to Thomas “Tom” Hagen. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 1 Quotes
“A lawyer with his briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns.”
Related Characters:
Don Vito Corleone (speaker), Thomas “Tom” Hagen
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Page Number and Citation:
46
Explanation and Analysis:
Here, Puzo provides background information on how Don Corleone took in the orphaned Tom Hagen, who then pursued a career in law. With this quote, Don Corleone expresses his conflicted opinion about the pezzonovante, the “big shot” lawyers, politicians, and other socially respected leaders who control legitimate society. Throughout the novel, Don Corleone and other mobsters mock and resent the pezzonovante, whom they feel unjustly dictate what other men (especially men in the Mafia) can and cannot do with their lives. Don Corleone also believes that his willingness to flout legitimate society’s laws makes him more powerful than the pezzonovante, as demonstrated in his dealings with Jack Woltz.
Nevertheless, Don Corleone cannot deny the seductive nature of the pezzonovante’s power, because the latter group amasses wealth and wields its power without fear of arrest and imprisonment. Lawyers, for example, do not have to flout the law because they can manipulate it instead. Moreover, unlike the Mafia, the pezzonovante operates under society’s approving gaze. Claiming, “a lawyer with his briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns” is the Don’s way of simultaneously mocking and respecting the pezzonovante’s power. He wants the excessive wealth and power that comes with the criminal lifestyle, but he also wishes that, like the pezzonovante, he could wield his wealth and power without fearing reprisal from the law or from other Mafia members who wish to take his wealth and power by force.
Chapter 8 Quotes
“Even the shooting of your father was business, not personal. You should know that by now.”
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Chapter 12 Quotes
“But you can’t get sore at him. It’s like getting sore at God.”
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Chapter 19 Quotes
She was quite content not to share the pain of her men, after all did they share the pain of women?
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Chapter 20 Quotes
Nothing was more calming, more conducive to pure reason, than the atmosphere of money.
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“We are all men who have refused to be fools, who have refused to be puppets dancing on a string pulled by the men on high. We have been fortunate here in this country […] Some of you have sons who are professors, scientists, musicians, and you are fortunate. Perhaps your grandchildren will become the new pezzonovanti.”
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Chapter 28 Quotes
“Revenge is a dish that tastes best when it is cold.”
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Thomas “Tom” Hagen Character Timeline in The Godfather
The timeline below shows where the character Thomas “Tom” Hagen appears in The Godfather. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
...despite being a married man. From inside Don Corleone’s office, the acting Family Consigliere (advisor), Tom Hagen, gives the Don the list of men who will meet with him.
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...Kay more about his family, including how his father unofficially adopted and raised the orphaned Tom Hagen. Inside the house, Sonny and Lucy have sex in an upper bedroom while Sonny’s...
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Tom Hagen reminds Don Corleone that he must soon meet with narcotics dealer Virgil Sollozzo to...
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...Kay back to her New York City hotel. The next day, Don Corleone officially makes Tom Hagen the new Consigliere, a controversial move since the German-Irish Hagen is filling a position...
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As a child, the orphaned Hagen befriended Sonny and won the grace of Vito Corleone, who took him in and raised...
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At the mansion, and upon learning that Hagen represents Don Corleone, Woltz shows him his prized racehorse and treats him to dinner. Woltz...
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Chapter 2
Tom Hagen meets with Don Corleone to discuss the Woltz affair, as well as to plan...
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...political contacts in order to shield his drug distribution from Sicily into America. Despite both Hagen’s and Sonny’s insistence that “there is more money potential in narcotics than in any other...
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Don Corleone, Sonny, and Hagen meet with the fearsome Sollozzo, who informs them the rival Tattaglia Family is backing his...
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It is now around Christmas. Fontane thanks Hagen for securing him the role in Woltz’s new movie and vows to get his Godfather...
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...him five times but he is still alive. He also learns that Sollozzo has snatched Tom Hagen.
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Chapter 3
Tom Hagen arrives in a car with Sollozzo to a secret location, where Sollozzo informs Hagen...
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Chapter 4
...the Don. His temper rising, Sonny vows to kill Sollozzo and the Tattaglias. Soon after, Tom Hagen arrives.
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Chapter 5
Hagen tells the other men that Sollozzo let him go after he convinced the Turk that...
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Chapter 8
...a date, while the radio news announces the discovery of Paulie’s body in the car. Hagen and Sonny discuss the potential deal to make with the Turk, who has ceased contact...
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As Michael, Hagen, Sonny, Tessio, and Clemenza sit down to eat spaghetti, they hear a noise in the...
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Chapter 9
...against Sollozzo. He feels he should have more sympathy for his father, but he understands Hagen’s advice that the issue “was just business, not personal.” He and Kay arrive at the...
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Chapter 10
...awakens the next morning to find that his jaw has been wired shut and that Hagen has placed a small army of private detectives around Don Corleone. Michael also learns that...
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Later that morning, Sonny, Hagen, Michael, Tessio, and Clemenza discuss whether to meet Sollozzo. The Turk refuses to negotiate with...
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Hagen then confirms that McCluskey is indeed on Sollozzo’s payroll and stands to gain “a piece”...
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Chapter 11
Tom Hagen arranges the necessary documents for Michael to flee the country, including a false passport,...
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Chapter 12
Suddenly, Tom Hagen calls and tells Johnny he is coming on the morning plane to discuss a...
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Hagen and Johnny settle into the latter’s house. Hagen tells Johnny that Jack Woltz is paying...
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Johnny drops Hagen off at the airport and returns to Virginia’s house. At 35, he is a “washed...
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Chapter 13
...life, he wonders if he will still receive the financing for his film production venture. Hagen, however, assures him the money is secured, but for one film at a time. Johnny...
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Chapter 15
...meeting with the detectives, Kay visits the Corleone mall in Long Beach. There, she meets Tom Hagen and inquires about Michael’s whereabouts. “We know he’s all right but we don’t know...
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Kay asks him to deliver a letter to Michael, but Tom refuses, claiming that doing so would implicate him as having knowledge of Michael’s whereabouts. Before...
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Chapter 16
...for various sports bets in his record notebooks in order to report the records to Tom Hagen. After he jots down the bets, Carlos joins Sally Rags and Coach on the...
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...Clemenza. The caporegime curses “that goddamn Sonny and his temper” and reports the incident to Tom Hagen. The Consigliere worries that the Corleone Family’s enemies might learn of Sonny’s location, so...
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Chapter 17
...they solve the murder of McCluskey. Eventually, however, newspapers print stories containing definitive proof (which Tom Hagen supplies) that links McCluskey to Sollozzo’s drug rackets. The revelation shocks police departments across...
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Hagen knows that police will justify modest graft such as gambling and prostitution because they perform...
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After informing Don Corleone about Michael and the murders of Sollozzo and McCluskey, Hagen and Sonny exit Don Corleone’s bedroom to discuss the ongoing war between the Corleones and...
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Hagen states that because the Corleone Family’s money comes from “bookmaking and policy,” it is therefore...
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...and Clemenza are competent caporegimes, but their age and mellowed ruthlessness hampers their fighting ability. Tom Hagen is also not suited to be a wartime Consigliere due to his preference for...
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Chapter 18
...Don Corleone’s men punished. As Bonasera finishes his coffee, he answers a phone call from Tom Hagen.
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Hagen tells Bonasera, “you owe the Don a service,” and instructs him to meet the Godfather...
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Chapter 19
...leaves the leadership of the other Families untouched. Sonny lacks Don Corleone’s “strategical genius,” and Hagen warns him to lay low because the Five Families have made him a “marked man.”...
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...gets into his car, and heads towards Connie’s apartment. One look at Sonny’s face lets Hagen know that “all reasoning power had left him.” He orders two bodyguards to follow Sonny’s...
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The assassins flee the scene shortly before Sonny’s bodyguards arrive. They call Tom Hagen to tell him that Sonny is dead. As Mama Corleone bustles around in the...
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Hagen must now wake Don Corleone and tell him that his son is dead. As he...
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Once Hagen has finished with the details, Don Corleone explicitly forbids any of the men to seek...
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Chapter 20
The first to arrive after Don Corleone and Tom Hagen are Carlo Tremonti, boss of the American southern territory, Joseph Zaluci from Detroit, and...
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When Don Corleone and Tom Hagen arrive home, Clemenza dismisses the Bocchicchio hostage that acted as surrogate for the Don....
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Inside the house, Don Corleone reiterates to Hagen that he should explore every possible legal avenue and spend as much as needed to...
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Chapter 21
When Tom Hagen and Don Corleone get word of the affair, they propose to the Bocchicchio Family...
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Chapter 22
...After Sonny’s death, she tried to overdose on sleeping pills. While recovering in the hospital, Tom Hagen arranged for her to move to Las Vegas, where the Corleone Family now provides...
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...him performing the then-illegal procedure. His colleague, Dr. Kennedy (Don Corleone’s doctor), connected Segal with Tom Hagen, who got him a job in Las Vegas to escape the Eastern medical establishment’s...
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Chapter 26
Johnny tells them that Michael Corleone and Tom Hagen are arriving in Las Vegas. Lucy says she and Jules are having dinner with...
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Chapter 27
Michael Corleone arrives in Las Vegas with his new bodyguard, Albert Neri, and Tom Hagen. That evening, Michael dines with Fredo, Tom, Lucy, Jules, Nino, and Johnny. Everyone notes...
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...Michael chafes at this disrespect towards the Corleone Family. He explains that he has reduced Tom’s position from Consigliere to Family lawyer, and he urges Moe, “don’t insult people who are...
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Chapter 28
...that has been two years in the making. After steady tutelage under Don Corleone and Tom Hagen, Michael is now fully aware of the extent of his Family’s wealth and power...
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After he arrives home from Las Vegas, Michael holds an evening meeting with Don Corleone, Tom Hagen, Carlo, Clemenza, and Tessio. Since the meeting of the Five Families and Don Corleone’s...
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...they can split from the Corleones and start their own crime Families. Michael also reveals Tom is “out” as Consigliere. Tessio wants to add more men to his regime to fend...
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Michael adjourns the meeting and shares a drink with Hagen and Don Corleone. Tom wants to know why he is “out” of the Family business,...
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After Hagen leaves the meeting, Michael tells Don Corleone that his coming plan will serve as both...
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Chapter 29
Michael then tells Hagen that Don Corleone warned before his death that an inside traitor will betray the Corleone...
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Chapter 30
...him to prison. Aware of his tough reputation and Sicilian heritage, the Corleone Family enlisted Tom Hagen to get Neri’s sentence suspended. Disenchanted with legitimate society’s laws, Neri agreed to meet...
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Chapter 31
...waiting for Michael to arrive while sipping coffee in the Corleone family’s kitchen. He tells Hagen that he hopes Michael can secure “a good deal” at the meeting with Barzini. As...
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...going to be late for their date that evening. Suddenly, Michael arrives. Rocco Lampone and Tom Hagen accompany him. “You have to answer for Santino,” Michael says, “you fingered Sonny for...
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...he will send Carlo to Las Vegas and exile him from the Family Business. Michael, Hagen, and Lampone then lead Carlo to a car parked outside the home.
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Chapter 32
...senior caporegime. Al Neri is in charge of security in the Corleone-owned Vegas hotels, while Tom Hagen stays as the Family’s lawyer. Connie Corleone remarries. Kay converts to Catholicism against Michael’s...
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...She took the children and left him for her parents’ New Hampshire home. Soon after, Tom Hagen visited her, and they spent the afternoon talking. “I expected to see some of...
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Kay told Tom straight out that she ran away because Michael lied to her about killing Carlo. Tom...
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“He warned you never to ask about business,” Tom says of Michael. He told Kay of Tessio’s betrayal; that Tessio died just as Carlo...
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