"Horace: "Begin, be bold and venture to be wise," -- advice that certainly applies to the enterprise of writing but also works for the pleasurable task of choosing an epigraph. \\ Balzac: "Behind every great fortune is a crime." Is the epigraph unforgettable because it is so pithy and sinister? Or because juxtaposed with the novel it introduces, Mario Puzo's "The Godfather" (1969), the statement somehow becomes more true? Brevity amplifies truth and seals it in our memories." - Adriano