The Wire Quotes
Prison Warden: Hell, if you can't win the war on drugs in a prison, where the hell you gonna win it?
TV Show: The Wire
Stringer: Yo', Rock.
Shamrock: Huh?
Stringer: Be subtle with it, man. You know what subtle means?
Shamrock: Laid back and shit.
Shamrock: Huh?
Stringer: Be subtle with it, man. You know what subtle means?
Shamrock: Laid back and shit.
TV Show: The Wire
Daniels: Where are the detectives who were first assigned?
Valchek: Dead. To me, anyway. I shipped them humps back to Burrell as fast as I could.
Valchek: Dead. To me, anyway. I shipped them humps back to Burrell as fast as I could.
TV Show: The Wire
Kima: [to Daniels, about joining the new detail] I'll tell your wife if you tell mine.
TV Show: The Wire
McNulty: [about Omar] He play you hard?
Bubbles: I go at him respectable. He put that goddamn shotgun in my face, man. I’m looking at two goddamn tubes of the Harbor Tunnel staring right at me. [McNulty laughs] Each one about yea-big. I damn near piss my pants.
Bubbles: I go at him respectable. He put that goddamn shotgun in my face, man. I’m looking at two goddamn tubes of the Harbor Tunnel staring right at me. [McNulty laughs] Each one about yea-big. I damn near piss my pants.
TV Show: The Wire
Lester: Colonel, respectfully, did you just fuck me over without giving me half a chance to clear this case?
Rawls: Let’s be clear, Det. Freamon. When I fuck you over, you’ll know it. You’ll be so goddamn certain, you won’t need to ask that question.
Rawls: Let’s be clear, Det. Freamon. When I fuck you over, you’ll know it. You’ll be so goddamn certain, you won’t need to ask that question.
TV Show: The Wire
Kima: Cool Lester Smooth... hey, what's happenin'?
Lester: Same fuck-ups in the same shit detail, workin’ out of the same shithouse kind of office. You people lack for personal growth, you know that?
Lester: Same fuck-ups in the same shit detail, workin’ out of the same shithouse kind of office. You people lack for personal growth, you know that?
TV Show: The Wire
[after the Stevedores' Union members testified in front of the Grand Jury]
Bunk: How'd we do, Charlie?
Charlie: I almost got one to swear that the docks are actually near the water.
Bunk: How'd we do, Charlie?
Charlie: I almost got one to swear that the docks are actually near the water.
TV Show: The Wire
Sobotka: What do you say, Johnny? What do you say to any question?
Johnny Fifty: I take the Fifth Commandment.
Johnny Fifty: I take the Fifth Commandment.
TV Show: The Wire
D'Angelo Barksdale: The past is always with us. Where we come from, what we go through, how we go through it; all this shit matters. Like at the end of the book, ya' know, boats and tides and all. It's like you can change up, right, you can say you're somebody new, you can give yourself a whole new story. But, what came first is who you really are and what happened before is what really happened. It don't matter that some fool say he different 'cause the things that make you different is what you really do, what you really go through. Like, ya' know, all those books in his library. He frontin' with all them books, but if you pull one down off the shelf, none of the pages have ever been opened. He got all them books, and he hasn't read nearly one of them. Gatsby, he was who he was, and he did what he did. And 'cause he wasn't willing to get real with the story, that shit caught up to him.
TV Show: The Wire
[At Bird's trial]
Ilene: And what is your occupation?
Omar: Occupation?
Ilene: What exactly do you do for a living, Mr. Little?
Omar: I rip and run.
Ilene: You...
Omar: I robs drug dealers.
Ilene: And exactly how long has this been your occupation, Mr. Little?
Omar: Well, I don't know exactly. I venture to say maybe 'bout eight or nine years.
Ilene: Mr. Little, how does a man rob drug dealers for eight or nine years and live to tell about it?
Omar: Day at a time, I suppose.
Ilene: And what is your occupation?
Omar: Occupation?
Ilene: What exactly do you do for a living, Mr. Little?
Omar: I rip and run.
Ilene: You...
Omar: I robs drug dealers.
Ilene: And exactly how long has this been your occupation, Mr. Little?
Omar: Well, I don't know exactly. I venture to say maybe 'bout eight or nine years.
Ilene: Mr. Little, how does a man rob drug dealers for eight or nine years and live to tell about it?
Omar: Day at a time, I suppose.
TV Show: The Wire
Levy: You are amoral, are you not? You are feeding off the violence and the despair of the drug trade. You're stealing from those who themselves are stealing the lifeblood from our city. You are a parasite who leeches off--
Omar: Just like you, man.
Levy: --the culture of drugs... Excuse me, what?
Omar: I got the shotgun. You got the briefcase. It's all in the game, though, right?
Omar: Just like you, man.
Levy: --the culture of drugs... Excuse me, what?
Omar: I got the shotgun. You got the briefcase. It's all in the game, though, right?
TV Show: The Wire
Omar: That wasn’t no attempted murder.
Levy: Then what was it, Mr. Little?
Omar: I shot the boy Mike-Mike in his hind parts, that all. [jury members laugh] Fixed it up so he couldn’t sit right. [Judge Phelan chuckles]
Levy: Why’d you shoot Mike-Mike in his, um... hind parts, Mr. Little?
Omar: Let’s say we had a disagreement.
Levy: A disagreement over?
Omar: Well, you see, Mike-Mike thought he should keep that cocaine he was slingin’ and the money he was makin’ from slingin’ it. I thought otherwise.
Levy: Then what was it, Mr. Little?
Omar: I shot the boy Mike-Mike in his hind parts, that all. [jury members laugh] Fixed it up so he couldn’t sit right. [Judge Phelan chuckles]
Levy: Why’d you shoot Mike-Mike in his, um... hind parts, Mr. Little?
Omar: Let’s say we had a disagreement.
Levy: A disagreement over?
Omar: Well, you see, Mike-Mike thought he should keep that cocaine he was slingin’ and the money he was makin’ from slingin’ it. I thought otherwise.
TV Show: The Wire
Sergei: Family cannot be helped.
Proposition Joe: Who you tellin’? I got motherfuckin’ nephews and in-laws fucking all my shit up all the time and it ain’t like I can pop a cap in their ass and not hear about it Thanksgivin’ time. For real, I’m livin’ life with some burdensome niggers.
...
Nick: Thanks for bein’ straight on this.
Proposition Joe: Fool, if it wasn’t for Sergei here, you and your cuz' both would be cadaverous motherfuckers.
Proposition Joe: Who you tellin’? I got motherfuckin’ nephews and in-laws fucking all my shit up all the time and it ain’t like I can pop a cap in their ass and not hear about it Thanksgivin’ time. For real, I’m livin’ life with some burdensome niggers.
...
Nick: Thanks for bein’ straight on this.
Proposition Joe: Fool, if it wasn’t for Sergei here, you and your cuz' both would be cadaverous motherfuckers.
TV Show: The Wire
D.C. Guy: [about D'Angelo's death] But did your man Avon even knew about it? [Stringer shakes his head] You on your own here huh?
Stringer: You right, it ain't none of your business. And if I were you, I wouldn't let a word of this mess end up in Avon's ear.
D.C. Guy: Baltimore nigga's off the hook, I swear. All ya'll.
Stringer: You right, it ain't none of your business. And if I were you, I wouldn't let a word of this mess end up in Avon's ear.
D.C. Guy: Baltimore nigga's off the hook, I swear. All ya'll.
TV Show: The Wire
Prez: What if they're not sneaking anything off this time? What then?
Lester: Ah then, tragically, you will have wasted yet another day in a life you've already misspent in the service of the City of Baltimore.
Lester: Ah then, tragically, you will have wasted yet another day in a life you've already misspent in the service of the City of Baltimore.
TV Show: The Wire
Bunk: The thing of it is, Lieutenant... Jimmy McNulty, when he ain't policing he's a picture postcard of a drunken, self-destructive fuck-up. And when he is policing... he's pretty much the same motherfucker. But on a good case, he runnin' in front of the pack. That's as close as the man comes to bein' right.
TV Show: The Wire
Daniels: [about McNulty] You ever see how a dog gets when he smells a bone buried in the yard?
Rawls: Yeah, and I seen one take a shit on my carpet, too. And don't give me that he's-got-that-fire-in-the-belly garbage, either. The answer is no.
Rawls: Yeah, and I seen one take a shit on my carpet, too. And don't give me that he's-got-that-fire-in-the-belly garbage, either. The answer is no.
TV Show: The Wire
Rhonda: [reading an affadavit] You all cannot spell for shit.
Bunk: Well, would we be police if we could?
Bunk: Well, would we be police if we could?
TV Show: The Wire
Horseface: [to Frank, while looking at a porn mag] Let me ask you something important. You like fake tits? I can't decide. Thus far, I'm undecided on fake tits.
TV Show: The Wire
[Bunk comes into detail room wearing lacrosse sweats]
Herc: Lacrosse?
Bunk: What, a brother can't run with a stick? Jim Brown was an All-American midfielder at Syracuse.
Lester: You putting yourself beside Jim Brown?
Bunk: Lester, um, I'm, I'm just saying...
Daniels: I thought you were born in pinstripes!
Bunk: Lieutenant, I was under the impression that, uh, when detailed against his will to some backwards-ass, no-count, out-in-the-district, lost ball/tall-grass drug investigation, a veteran police of means and talent can wear whatever the fuck he damn well pleases.
Herc: Lacrosse?
Bunk: What, a brother can't run with a stick? Jim Brown was an All-American midfielder at Syracuse.
Lester: You putting yourself beside Jim Brown?
Bunk: Lester, um, I'm, I'm just saying...
Daniels: I thought you were born in pinstripes!
Bunk: Lieutenant, I was under the impression that, uh, when detailed against his will to some backwards-ass, no-count, out-in-the-district, lost ball/tall-grass drug investigation, a veteran police of means and talent can wear whatever the fuck he damn well pleases.
TV Show: The Wire
Stringer: [to Bodie] This here game is more than the rep you carry, the corner you hold. You gotta be fierce, I know that, but more than that, you gotta show some flex, give and take on both sides.
TV Show: The Wire
Proposition Joe: [about Brother Mouzone] You don't think I'm gonna send any of my people up against Brother? Shit, That nigga got more bodies on him than a Chinese cemetery.
TV Show: The Wire
Valchek: Now the votes are in, and you're movin' your damn golf trophies upstairs to the Commissioner's office, now you're freezin' me out, huh? Fuckin' rat-fucker's, all of ya'. This is my case, mine! And now you're gonna tell me who the target is? Well not fuckin' likely.
TV Show: The Wire
[during extended surveillance detail, Herc takes a picture of Carver]
Carver: Hey, don't waste film.
Herc: We've been here so fucking long that you're startin' to look good to me.
Carver: Hey, don't waste film.
Herc: We've been here so fucking long that you're startin' to look good to me.
TV Show: The Wire
McNulty[about the two hookers in the sting operation] There were two of them. I was outnumbered.
TV Show: The Wire
Brother Mouzone: Lamar, where's my Harper's?
Lamar: Say wha'?
Brother Mouzone: Harper's. The new issue.
Lamar: You didn't say that one. You said The New Republic, and Atlantic, and a new somethin' else.
Brother Mouzone: I did not forget to tell you Harper's. Every week I tell you the same shit, and every week you forget half of what I say.
Lamar: Say wha'?
Brother Mouzone: Harper's. The new issue.
Lamar: You didn't say that one. You said The New Republic, and Atlantic, and a new somethin' else.
Brother Mouzone: I did not forget to tell you Harper's. Every week I tell you the same shit, and every week you forget half of what I say.
TV Show: The Wire
Stringer: You see these east-side motherfucker's over here? I want'chu to extend to these motherfucker's all the hospitality west Baltimore is famous for.
Bodie: Yeah, you want us to fuck 'em up.
Bodie: Yeah, you want us to fuck 'em up.
TV Show: The Wire