85 Savage Gangster Quotes: Lessons From The Streets

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In this article, you’re gonna be joining me into an exploration of the most savage gangster quotes of all-time.

If you’re a savant of mafia films and gangster history, then you’ll thoroughly enjoy these quotes. 

Whether it’s Vito Corleone from Godfather, or the real-life Al Capone, these words capture what it really means to be feared, respected, and loved. 

So without further ado, let’s dive in!

Savage Gangster Quotes

  • “I don’t want to be a product of my environment, I want my environment to be a product of me.” ~ Frank Costello
  • “I don’t wanna kill anybody. But if you’re standing in my way, one way or the other, you’re getting out of my way.” ~ Mr. Pink
  • “I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse.” ~ Vito Corleone
  • “Be careful who you call your friends. I’d rather have 4 quarters than 100 pennies.” ~ Al Capone
  • “I have learned more in the streets than in any classroom.” ~ Vito Corleone
  • “It’s better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a lamb.” ~ John Gotti
lion on a rock
  • “Who cares about sh*t that people say that they don’t have the balls to say to your face?” ~ Tony Soprano
  • “You can get much further with a kind word and a gun than you can with just a kind word.” ~ Al Capone
  • “Accosting somebody in public can be regrettable. Accosting a gangster can be hazardous.” ~ Chael Sonnen
  • “I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn’t work that way. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness.” ~ Michael Corleone
  • “No gangster is ever happy when he’s at peace. The main reason he’s in business is to eliminate his enemies.” ~ Lorenzo Carcaterra
  • “Great men are not born great, they grow great.” ~ Vito Corleone
man standing in the snow
  • “There’s no such thing as good or bad money, there’s just money.” ~ Lucky Luciano
  • “I try to avoid conflict because I’m scared of me, not you. My temper goes from zero to jail real fast.” ~ DMX
  • “Only don’t tell me you’re innocent, because it insults my intelligence and makes me very angry.” ~ Michael Corleone
  • “When I was your age they would say you can either become cops or criminals. Today what I’m saying to you is this — when you’re facing a loaded gun, what’s the difference?” ~ Frank Costello
  • “So much cocaine in the world and your nose is still in my business.” ~ Thomas Shelby
thomas shelby with a gun
  • “The gangster is the man of the city, with the city’s language and knowledge, with its queer and dishonest skills and its terrible daring, carrying his life in his hands like a club.” ~ Robert Warshow 

Short Gangster Quotes

Enjoying this list of quotes so far? Then you may also enjoy these move in silence quotes or this list of savage quotes for haters.

If you’d just prefer to keep reading, then here’s more of the best savage gangster quotes.

  • “The loudest one in the room is the weakest one in the room.” ~ Frank Lucas
  • “You need more than guts to be a good gangster. You need ideas.” ~ Rocket
  • “Once a gangster, always a gangster.” ~ Gary Glasberg
  • “There are three sides to every story. Mine, yours, and the truth.” ~ Joe Massino
book sitting on table
  • “Revenge is a dish best served cold.” ~ Vito Corleone
  • “Everybody’s a gangster until a gangster walks in the room.”
  • “Wise men listen and laugh while fools talk.” ~ Curtis Jackson
  • “I am an undisputed gangster. To me, that means playing by my own rules.” ~ Katherine Ryan
  • “You wanna play rough? Okay, say hello to my little friend.” ~ Tony Montana
  • “No one knows my struggle, they only see my trouble.” ~ Tupac Shakur
fog rolling in over mountains
  • “There is a time to fight and there is a time to be clever.” ~ Pablo Escobar
  • “Never get angry. Never make a threat. Reason with people.” ~ Vito Corleone
  • “Shoot first, ask questions last. That’s how these so-called gangstas last.” ~ Waka Flocka Flame
  • “Keep your friends close but your enemies closer.” ~ Vito Corleone
  • “I’m a gangster, and gangsters don’t ask questions.” ~ Lil Wayne
  • “Every human being has a bit of gangster in him.” ~ Binyavanga Wainaina
  • “Never let anyone know what you are thinking.” ~ Michael Corleone
arizona mountains
  • “I am like any other man. All I do is supply a demand.” ~ Al Capone
  • “As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.”

Gangster Quotes About Respect

Let’s keep this list rolling with some of the best gangster quotes about the power of earning respect.

  • “Never hate your enemies, it affects your judgment.” ~ Michael Corleone
  • “Don’t mistake my kindness for weakness. I am kind to everyone, but when someone is unkind to me, weak is not what you’re going to remember about me.” ~ Al Capone
  • “I say what I mean and I do what I say.” ~ Neil McCauley
  • “Knowledge will give you power, but character will give you respect.”
  • “If you think your boss is stupid, remember you wouldn’t have a job if he was any smarter.” ~ John Gotti
woman holding a clipboard
  • “The most dangerous person is the one who listens, thinks, and observes.”
  • “I am the most powerful man in Chicago.” ~ John Scalise
  • “There isn’t anything on this earth that I will hide or back up from.” ~ Greg Scarpa
  • “To me, being a gangster was better than being president of the United States.” ~ Henry Hill
  • “I never lie because I don’t fear anyone. You only lie when you’re afraid.” ~ John Gotti
  • “The lawyer with the briefcase can steal more money than the man with the gun.” ~ Mario Puzo
gangster quote on paper
  • “Judges, lawyers, and politicians have a license to steal. We don’t need one.” ~ Carlo Gambino
  • “Just because you lost me as a friend doesn’t mean you gained me as an enemy. I’m bigger than that. I still wanna see you eat, just not at my table.” ~ Tupac Shakur
  • “In my world, of course, it doesn’t matter. You can be a gangster with a dress, or you can be a gangster with baggy pants.” ~ Young Thug
  • “Success. It’s got enemies. You can be successful and have enemies or you can be unsuccessful and have friends.” ~ Dominic Cattano

Savage Gangster Quotes About Loyalty

While the life of a gangster certainly isn’t one that we should strive to emulate, the one thing that we can all mimic is their sense of loyalty. 

Gangsters hold themselves to a code of loyalty that runs deep. And while some gangsters break this code when they get in trouble, true gangsters never compromise on their sense of loyalty.

So without further ado, here’s some of the best gangster quotes about loyalty.

  • “Loyalty is an expensive gift. Don’t expect it from cheap people.”
  • “All I have in this life are my balls and my word, and I don’t break them for no one.” ~ Tony Montana
tony montana
  • “Only those who went hungry with me and stood by me when I went through a bad time will eat at my table.” ~ Pablo Escobar
  • “Blood makes you related, loyalty makes you family.”
  • “Be careful who you trust, the devil was once an angel.”
  • “If you start to wonder whether you can trust someone or not, that’s when you know you already don’t.”
  • “Never open your mouth unless you’re in the dentist’s chair.” ~ Sammy “The Bull” Gravano
  • “Don’t ever say anything you don’t want played back to you someday.” ~ John Gotti
  • “You can do anything you want, but never go against the family.” ~ Vito Corleone
portrait of vito corleone
  • “Evalue the people in your life, then promote, demote, or terminate.” ~ Tailored Motives
  • “It’s dangerous to be an honest man.” ~ Mario Puzo
  • “A guy told me one time…don’t let yourself get attached to anything you’re not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner.” ~ Neil McCauley 
  • “Loyalty and respect goes both ways. If they don’t return it, they don’t deserve it.” 
  • Know your worth and be willing to walk away from anyone who doesn’t give you the loyalty you deserve.”
  • “The only people I owe my loyalty to are those who never made me question theirs.”
  • “You took your first pinch like a man and you learned the two greatest things in life…never rat on your friends and always keep your mouth shut.” ~ Jimmy Conway
gangsters having dinner

Gangster Quotes On Love

  • “A man who doesn’t spend time with his family can never be a real man.” ~ Vito Corleone
  • “In Sicily, women are more dangerous than shotguns.” ~ Calo
  • “He grabbed my hand and he gave me a kiss. This was a suspicious kiss. This was the kiss of death.” ~ Joe Valachi
  • “Take care of the home before impressing the street.”
  • “I’m not hard to love, I’m just not easy to play.”
  • “Some say that life is a game, that means love is a casino.” ~ Kevin Gates
poker table
  • “Don’t be mad when someone else starts to appreciate the person you took for granted. What you won’t do for love, someone else will.”
  • “If I have to fight for your attention, I don’t want it anymore.”
  • “We all have our scars. That’s what falling in love is about; revealing your scars to somebody who then loves you anyway.” ~ Dan Savage
  • “If I cut you off, chances are you handed me the scissors.”
  • “You can show somebody all the love in the world, but that doesn’t mean they’re gonna show it back.” ~ 21 Savage
woman and man talking
  • “Stay real, stay loyal, or stay away from me.”
  • “If anyone asks ‘what is hell?’ I would answer that it’s the distance between two people who love each other.”
  • “You are either on my side, by my side, or in my f**king way.”
  • “We are always works in progress. You will hurt people you love, and help people you detest. This is called being human and it happens to everyone.”
  • “A healthy relationship is one where two independent people just make a deal that they will help make the other person the best version of themselves.”
  • “Trust gets you killed, love gets you hurt, and being real gets you hated.”
white flower
  • “The best way to not get your heart broken is to pretend you don’t have one.”

Final Thoughts

I hope that you enjoyed this list of savage gangster quotes!

As one of these quotes reads, we all have a bit of gangster inside of us. And truthfully, we all need to unleash that inner gangster from time to time.

That doesn’t mean you should go full Tony Soprano and start strong-arming people, beating them up, or engaging in criminal activity.

But it does mean that you should strive to never back down from a challenge and become the type of person that garners respect.

When you peel back the layers of a true gangster and put aside the glamorization of crime, that’s really what they’re all about.

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