The Wire Quotes
Herc: What the fuck was that?
Carver: That was my Korean counterman.
Herc: Sounded Chinese.
Carver: Like you can fucking tell the difference.
Carver: That was my Korean counterman.
Herc: Sounded Chinese.
Carver: Like you can fucking tell the difference.
TV Show: The Wire
Avon: Ayo what's up playboy? How come you wearin' that suit, B? For real its 85 fuckin' degrees out here and you try'na be like fuckin' Pat Riley
Proposition Joe : Look the part, be the part, motherfucker.
Proposition Joe : Look the part, be the part, motherfucker.
TV Show: The Wire
Proposition Joe: I'm doing like one of them marriage counselors. Charge by the hour to tell some fool he need to bring some flowers home. Then charge another hour telling the bitch she oughta suck some cock every little once in a while. You know, keep a marriage strong like that.
TV Show: The Wire
Walon: Look, forgiveness from other folks is good, but ain't nothin' but words comin' at you from outside. You want to kick this shit, you got to forgive your own self. Love yourself some, brother. And then drag your sorry ass to some meetings.
Bubbles: Meetings?
Walon: What the fuck do you wanna hear? That you're strong enough to do this by yourself? Gettin' clean's the easy part. And then comes life.
Bubbles: Meetings?
Walon: What the fuck do you wanna hear? That you're strong enough to do this by yourself? Gettin' clean's the easy part. And then comes life.
TV Show: The Wire
Rawls: Listen to me, McNulty. You took a lot of risks. You played a lot of wild cards. And, you made a lot of fucking people do a lot of things they didn't want to do. You, McNulty, are a gaping asshole. I know it, and I'll be fucked if everybody in CID didn't know it. But I'll be also fucked if I let you sit here and think you did a single fucking thing to get a fucking police shot. Believe it or not, not everything is about you. Get it into your head McNulty. It's not your fault. And the motherfucker telling you this, he fucking hates your guts. So you know that if it was your fault, I'd be the first son of a bitch to tell you. Shit went bad, she took two for the company. That's the only lesson here.
TV Show: The Wire
D'Angelo: If anybody asks you if in you in this game, you tell 'em you in it for life, a'ight?. You play it hard, you play it tight, and you make sure niggas know you gonn' stand by your people. No loose talk, no second thoughts and no snitching. Play it like that.
TV Show: The Wire
Clay Davis: Erv, will you explain to this motherfucker just what the fuck it is he's doing here?
Burrell: Lieutenant Dan-...
Daniels: [interrupting] Excuse me, sir, but it's pretty basic. If the senator isn't involved in anything illegal, then he doesn't need to worry. I can't be any clearer than that.
Clay Davis: Fool, what do you think? That we know anything about who gives money? That we give a damn about who they are or what they want? We have no way of running down them or their stories. We don't care. We just cash the damn cheques, count the votes and move on.
Daniels: [stands] Anything else, Deputy Burrell? [leaves]
Burrell: Lieutenant Dan-...
Daniels: [interrupting] Excuse me, sir, but it's pretty basic. If the senator isn't involved in anything illegal, then he doesn't need to worry. I can't be any clearer than that.
Clay Davis: Fool, what do you think? That we know anything about who gives money? That we give a damn about who they are or what they want? We have no way of running down them or their stories. We don't care. We just cash the damn cheques, count the votes and move on.
Daniels: [stands] Anything else, Deputy Burrell? [leaves]
TV Show: The Wire
Bodie: [on killing Wallace] Look, the man gave the word, so we either step up or we step the fuck off. That's the game, yo.
TV Show: The Wire
D'Angelo: Where's Wallace at? ... Where's the boy, String?
Stringer: D'Angelo, shut your mouth.
D'Angelo: Where's Wallace? That's all I wanna know.
Levy: Kid, you better think...
D'Angelo: Where's Wallace? Where the fuck is Wallace? Huh? Huh? String? String? Look at me! Where the fuck is Wallace? HUH!? I don't want this Payless-wearing motherfucker representing me. I'ma get my own man. So just get back in your car and get the fuck back down south.
Stringer: A'ight, you stupid motherfucker, you made your decision.
D'Angelo: Yeah, I made my decision. Where's Wallace at? Where the fuck is Wallace? Where's Wallace, String? String! Where the fuck is Wallace? Huh? Stringer?!
Stringer: D'Angelo, shut your mouth.
D'Angelo: Where's Wallace? That's all I wanna know.
Levy: Kid, you better think...
D'Angelo: Where's Wallace? Where the fuck is Wallace? Huh? Huh? String? String? Look at me! Where the fuck is Wallace? HUH!? I don't want this Payless-wearing motherfucker representing me. I'ma get my own man. So just get back in your car and get the fuck back down south.
Stringer: A'ight, you stupid motherfucker, you made your decision.
D'Angelo: Yeah, I made my decision. Where's Wallace at? Where the fuck is Wallace? Where's Wallace, String? String! Where the fuck is Wallace? Huh? Stringer?!
TV Show: The Wire
Burrell: You came into a lot of money quick. You can go to jail just as quick if I start asking the right questions. This case ends, or you are done. Hell, I don't even need you to lock up Barksdale. I can have your major debrief the detectives and type the warrants himself. This case is done.
Daniels: You do what you feel. You wanna pull Avon in on half a case, you go ahead. You wanna put my shit in the street, feel free. But the Eastern had a lot of stories - mine ain't the only one. A lot of people came through that district. If you were gonna do me, I'd already be done. But there ain't nothin' you fear more than a bad headline, is there? You'd rather live in shit than let the world see you work a shovel. You can order warrants, and I'll serve 'em. But as long as I have days left on those dead wires, this case goes on.
Daniels: You do what you feel. You wanna pull Avon in on half a case, you go ahead. You wanna put my shit in the street, feel free. But the Eastern had a lot of stories - mine ain't the only one. A lot of people came through that district. If you were gonna do me, I'd already be done. But there ain't nothin' you fear more than a bad headline, is there? You'd rather live in shit than let the world see you work a shovel. You can order warrants, and I'll serve 'em. But as long as I have days left on those dead wires, this case goes on.
TV Show: The Wire
Carver: [observing Bodie beat a competing dealer with a bat] See, that's why we can't win.
Herc: Why not?
Carver: They fuck up, they get beat. We fuck up, they give us pensions.
Herc: Why not?
Carver: They fuck up, they get beat. We fuck up, they give us pensions.
TV Show: The Wire
D'Angelo: All my people, man, my father, my uncles, It's just what we do. You just live with this shit, until you can't breathe no more. I swear to God, I was courtside for eight months, and I was freer in jail than I was at home.
Rhonda: What are you looking for?
D'Angelo: I want it to go away.
Rhonda: I can't...
D'Angelo: I want what Wallace wanted. I want to start over. That's what I want. I don't care where. Anywhere. I don't give a fuck. I just want to go somewhere, where I can breathe like regular folk. You give me that... And I'll give you them.
Rhonda: What are you looking for?
D'Angelo: I want it to go away.
Rhonda: I can't...
D'Angelo: I want what Wallace wanted. I want to start over. That's what I want. I don't care where. Anywhere. I don't give a fuck. I just want to go somewhere, where I can breathe like regular folk. You give me that... And I'll give you them.
TV Show: The Wire
Daniels: [To Carver] Couple weeks from now, you're gonna be in some district somewhere with 11 or 12 uniforms looking to you for everything. And some of them are gonna be good police. Some of them are gonna be young and stupid. A few are gonna be pieces of shit. But all of them will take their cue from you. You show loyalty, they learn loyalty. You show them it's about the work, it'll be about the work. You show them some other kinda game, then that's the game they'll play. I came on in the Eastern, and there was a piece-of-shit lieutenant hoping to be a captain, piece-of-shit sergeants hoping to be lieutenants. Pretty soon we had piece-of-shit patrolmen trying to figure the job for themselves. And some of what happens then is hard as hell to live down. Comes a day you're gonna have to decide whether it's about you or about the work.
TV Show: The Wire
Rawls: [To McNulty] Great work you all did. And the number of clearances I'm looking at here? I mean, Christ, for the first time this year, we got the clearance rate up over 40%. That's on the one hand. On the other hand, I know the Deputy Ops got a call from the First Deputy U.S. Attorney this morning asking whether an asshole such as yourself really works for us. And, of course, this is the first the deputy hears his troops are creeping behind his back, trying to take a case federal when they've already been told the case is closed. You're a good detective. And I've got to admit you got some stones on you. Did you actually call the first deputy an empty suit? [Chuckles] I want to see you land okay, Jimmy. So, tell me, where don't you wanna go?
TV Show: The Wire
Rawls: Sergeant! Your floater's come back. County boards are puttin' her on our side of the bridge.
Landsman: No fuckin' way.
Rawls: Yeah, some useless fuck in our marine unit faxed 'em a report on the early morning tides and wind currents. Show's the body went into the water west of the bridge and drifted out.
Landsman: McNulty.
Rawls: [laughs] Fuckin' Jimmy. Fuckin' with us for the fun of it. I gotta give the son of a bitch some credit for wit on this one. [laughs] Cocksucker.
Landsman: Motherfucker.
Landsman: No fuckin' way.
Rawls: Yeah, some useless fuck in our marine unit faxed 'em a report on the early morning tides and wind currents. Show's the body went into the water west of the bridge and drifted out.
Landsman: McNulty.
Rawls: [laughs] Fuckin' Jimmy. Fuckin' with us for the fun of it. I gotta give the son of a bitch some credit for wit on this one. [laughs] Cocksucker.
Landsman: Motherfucker.
TV Show: The Wire
Herc: How about you come on the raids tomorrow? Take a few doors for ol' time sake.
Kima: You takin' doors?
Herc: Yeah. Two houses an' a bar on Kane Street. C'mon Kima, mount up wit' us. I know you miss it.
Kima: I'm done rollin' around the gutter. I am inside now.
Herc: Oh, you're a house cat now, huh?
Kima: I made a promise.
Herc: I gotta say Kima, if you were a guy, and actually in some ways you're better than most of the guys I know. But if you were a guy, friends would buy you a beer and let you know.
Kima: Let me know what?
Herc: You're fuckin' whipped.
Kima: Whipped?
Herc: Pussy whipped within an inch of your life. I kid you not.
Kima: You takin' doors?
Herc: Yeah. Two houses an' a bar on Kane Street. C'mon Kima, mount up wit' us. I know you miss it.
Kima: I'm done rollin' around the gutter. I am inside now.
Herc: Oh, you're a house cat now, huh?
Kima: I made a promise.
Herc: I gotta say Kima, if you were a guy, and actually in some ways you're better than most of the guys I know. But if you were a guy, friends would buy you a beer and let you know.
Kima: Let me know what?
Herc: You're fuckin' whipped.
Kima: Whipped?
Herc: Pussy whipped within an inch of your life. I kid you not.
TV Show: The Wire
Horseface: Damn, Frank.
Union Member: We just sat here and watched Nat Coxson take a shit all over you.
Horseface: And the shrivelled dick motherfucker that you are, you take it.
Sobotka: For your information, I wake up every morning with an angry blue vein diamond cutter. I was gonna enlighten the President of the local 47 on this particular point, and he chose to depart. Blue steel gentlemen. Three and a half inches of hard blue steel.
Union Member: We just sat here and watched Nat Coxson take a shit all over you.
Horseface: And the shrivelled dick motherfucker that you are, you take it.
Sobotka: For your information, I wake up every morning with an angry blue vein diamond cutter. I was gonna enlighten the President of the local 47 on this particular point, and he chose to depart. Blue steel gentlemen. Three and a half inches of hard blue steel.
TV Show: The Wire
Shamrock: We done gone so far from Baltimore, we're losing the station. Yo', try a Philly station or some shit like that.
Bodie: The radio in Philly is different?
Shamrock: Nigga, please. You gotta be fucking with me, right? You ain't never heard a station outside of Baltimore?
Bodie: Yo' man, I ain't never left Baltimore except that Boys Village shit one day, and I wasn't tryin' to hear no radio up in that bitch.
Bodie: The radio in Philly is different?
Shamrock: Nigga, please. You gotta be fucking with me, right? You ain't never heard a station outside of Baltimore?
Bodie: Yo' man, I ain't never left Baltimore except that Boys Village shit one day, and I wasn't tryin' to hear no radio up in that bitch.
TV Show: The Wire
[Bunk and McNulty secretly eating crabs in the interrogation room]
Bunk: You got these off the boat?
McNulty: What, in winter? In a couple of months... fringe benefit. Can't catch crabs in homicide, right?
Bunk: Uh-uh... except maybe the occasional emergency room nurse every now and then.
Bunk: You got these off the boat?
McNulty: What, in winter? In a couple of months... fringe benefit. Can't catch crabs in homicide, right?
Bunk: Uh-uh... except maybe the occasional emergency room nurse every now and then.
TV Show: The Wire
Frank Sobotka: Why the fuck didn't you tell me what was in that motherfucking can?
Spiros: Now you wanna know what's in the cans? Before you wanted to know nothing. Now you ask. Guns, OK? Drugs, whore, vodka, BMWs. Beluga caviar, or bombs, maybe? Bad terrorists with big nuclear bombs. I'm kidding you, Frank, it's a joke. But you don't ask ... because you don't wanna know.
Spiros: Now you wanna know what's in the cans? Before you wanted to know nothing. Now you ask. Guns, OK? Drugs, whore, vodka, BMWs. Beluga caviar, or bombs, maybe? Bad terrorists with big nuclear bombs. I'm kidding you, Frank, it's a joke. But you don't ask ... because you don't wanna know.
TV Show: The Wire
Bunk: Jimmy, the look on Jay Landsman's face, he nearly cried!
[McNulty, Freamon and Bunk all laugh]
Lester: And Rawls! All afternoon, he just stays in his office with the door closed.
McNulty: Careful, you're giving me an erection!
[McNulty, Freamon and Bunk all laugh]
Lester: And Rawls! All afternoon, he just stays in his office with the door closed.
McNulty: Careful, you're giving me an erection!
TV Show: The Wire
Lester: [to "Non-English" speaking crewman] You cannot travel halfway around the world and not speak any motherfuckin' English.
TV Show: The Wire
Country: Yo, uh, String, why are you so down on the phone companies, man?
Stringer: While back, I took a stroll through the pit, I saw that kid we got running things down there, uh, Poot. Now, he got the cell phone I gave him for the business, right there on his hip. But, the nigga got another cell phone that only rang when the pussy called. Now, if this no-count nigga got two cell phones, how the fuck you gonna sell any more of them motherfuckers? That's market saturation.
Stringer: While back, I took a stroll through the pit, I saw that kid we got running things down there, uh, Poot. Now, he got the cell phone I gave him for the business, right there on his hip. But, the nigga got another cell phone that only rang when the pussy called. Now, if this no-count nigga got two cell phones, how the fuck you gonna sell any more of them motherfuckers? That's market saturation.
TV Show: The Wire
Landsman: There is some charm to a woman in uniform. But the fact remains we work plain clothes in Homicide. Not to say that the clothes need be plain. For you, l would suggest some pantsuits muted in colour. Something to offset Detective Moreland's pinstriped, lawyerly affectations and the brash, tweedy impertinence of Detective Freamon.
TV Show: The Wire
Omar: Look, Dante, what's it gonna take for you to be convinced, man? I don't bag no babies. [pauses] Huh?
Dante: What you think?
[Omar and Dante start making out]
Dante: You gonna have to do better than that.
Omar: Oh, indeed.
Dante: What you think?
[Omar and Dante start making out]
Dante: You gonna have to do better than that.
Omar: Oh, indeed.
TV Show: The Wire
McNulty: You see the preliminary? Positives for oral, vaginal, anal. No IDs, no passports, no visas, no real money - and the girls are coming across the water like that.
Bunk: Yeah.
Lester: McNulty has a theory...
Bunk: Does he now?
Lester: You deductive motherfucker, you.
Bunk: So he's gonna wander in here with some johnny-come-lately bullshit about how all these girls must be coming over here as prostitutes. Talking about how if they ain't got the cash to travel better than a container ship, then they sure as shit don't got the money to pay a plastic surgeon.
Lester: Then he's gonna go past that. And say something about that one found dead in the water - being tossed off the ship after she's already dead from a beat-down?
Bunk: But why did she get beat? He's gonna ask us that like we don't know.
Lester: Then he's gonna answer his own question, and say her swabs are negative, right? Fuck or fight with all them sailor boys - and she fought.
Bunk: So, it got a little rough, she got banged around, she comes up dead. And then, somebody panics and tosses her in the harbour overnight before the ship ties up.
Beadie: But the other girls saw.
Bunk: So now the other girls, they get told to get back in that can. And our man, to cover this shit up, he gets up on top and bangs down the airpipe. [stands up, sighs dramatically] Anything else you wanna tell us?
Bunk: Yeah.
Lester: McNulty has a theory...
Bunk: Does he now?
Lester: You deductive motherfucker, you.
Bunk: So he's gonna wander in here with some johnny-come-lately bullshit about how all these girls must be coming over here as prostitutes. Talking about how if they ain't got the cash to travel better than a container ship, then they sure as shit don't got the money to pay a plastic surgeon.
Lester: Then he's gonna go past that. And say something about that one found dead in the water - being tossed off the ship after she's already dead from a beat-down?
Bunk: But why did she get beat? He's gonna ask us that like we don't know.
Lester: Then he's gonna answer his own question, and say her swabs are negative, right? Fuck or fight with all them sailor boys - and she fought.
Bunk: So, it got a little rough, she got banged around, she comes up dead. And then, somebody panics and tosses her in the harbour overnight before the ship ties up.
Beadie: But the other girls saw.
Bunk: So now the other girls, they get told to get back in that can. And our man, to cover this shit up, he gets up on top and bangs down the airpipe. [stands up, sighs dramatically] Anything else you wanna tell us?
TV Show: The Wire