Stringer Bell quotes from 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.

Stringer

That's good. That's like a forty degree day. Ain't nobody got nuttin to say about a forty degree day. Fifty? Bring a smile to your face. Sixty? Shit, niggas are damn near barbecuing that mothafucka. Go down to twenty? Niggas get they bitch on. Get they blood complainin... but forty? Nobody give a FUCK about forty. Nobody remember forty, and ya'll niggas is giving me way too many forty degree days. What the fuck?!

Stringer

You know, Avon, you gotta think about what we got in this game for, man. Huh? Was it the rep? Was it so our names could ring out on some fucking ghetto streetcorner, man? Naw, man. There's games beyond the fucking game.

Stringer

We don't need to dream no more.

Stringer

We ain't gotta dream no more, man.

Stringer

Doin' good out there, D.

D'Angelo

We'll be doing even better when we get that new package.

Stringer

[laughs] New package same as old, man.

D'Angelo

Say what?

Stringer

Ain't no new package. Just gonna put that same shit out in a different colored gelcap is all. Might spike that shit with some procaine or some caffeine, but otherwise it's the same.

D'Angelo

String, man, people already coming back on us tellin' us that shit is weak.

Stringer

I know; shit is weak, but, y'know, shit is weak all over. The thing is, no matter what we call heroin, it's gonna get sold. Shit is strong, we gonna sell it; shit is weak, we gonna sell twice as much. You know why? 'Cause a fiend, he gonna chase that shit no matter what. It's crazy, you know. We do worse, and we get paid more. The government do better, and it don't mean no never mind. [pointing to the money] This shit right here, D, is forever.

D'Angelo

Yeah, but, Stringer, if you don't pay a nigga, he ain't gonna work for you.

Stringer

What, you think a nigga's gonna get a job? You think...you think it's gonna be like, 'Fuck it, let me quit this game here and go to college'? No, they're gonna buck a little, but they ain't gonna walk. And in the end, you gonna get respect.

Proposition Joe

He said y'all would be paying my fee rather than his ownself...

Stringer

Your fee?

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. [Omar arrives] Speaking of cocksuckers... [to Omar] Don't believe we met. Proposition Joe. You ever steal from me, I'll kill your whole family. A'ight, you're both here on my guarantee, so respect that shit and say what you feel. I'm up out of here.

Stringer

I got a man who say he gonna give you your life back, yo.

Omar

Who? Barksdale?

Stringer

My man say, "Tell that motherfucker that if he can find a way not to dip in our pockets, we gonna call this shit even."

Omar

Y'all aced Bailey, and what you did to my boy? So y'all think after what you did to Brandon, we supposed to find some even on this, huh?

Stringer

Yo, I don't know shit about shit, alright? I'm just the messenger.

Omar

Whatever, man.

Stringer

You know there's dead on both sides, right? There's gonna be a whole lot more if this beef keep up, but the truth be told? There be more soldiers on one half than the other, y'know what I'm sayin'?

Omar

Hey, look here, son - you tell Barksdale that he's been paid back for what he did to my peoples. As for his product, well... man's gotta earn a living, y'know?

Stringer

I don't know nobody called Barksdale, B. The man I'm talking about can't have his shit taken like that. That won't do.

Omar

A'ight. Tell him to throw me some cash, then, and we'll see: about five or ten thousand. Y'know what I mean, for my retirement, homes.

Stringer

Fine, if you can keep quiet about it.

Omar

Send my money through Joe, man.

Stringer

You go through Joe, you're not gonna see two thousand of that. Why don't you tell my man where you at?

Omar

Nah, nah, nah, we gonna figure something else out, you heard? I'll be in touch, homes.

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.

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?!

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-account nigga got two cell phones, how the fuck you gonna sell any more of them motherfuckers? That's market saturation.

Stringer

Yo', Rock.

Huh?

Stringer

Be subtle with it, man. You know what subtle means?

Laid back and shit.

[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.

Baltimore nigga's off the hook, I swear. All ya'll.

Stringer

[after a botched attempt to dispose guns in Baltimore harbor fails] It ain't enough I gotta be the one thinking this whole shit through. But I gotta be the one looking out for this shit and checking on this, making sure this shit is done. No, that's not enough. That's why they pay CEOs so much money; cause when shit go bad, it fall of them. Everybody else can be ducking and hiding, doing what they fucking wanna do. And when push come to shove, I'm the one that's gotta take the responsibility, and y'all are leaving me very little to work with right now!

Hold up, String-

Stringer

No, that's a very simple thing, my nigga. You drive the guns to the water. You look around, you ain't see anybody, you throw the guns. In the water. Splash.

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.

Slim Charles

But what if they don't cop our re-up, though?

Stringer

Well, I'ma worry about that when it happen. Until then, Mr. Charles, we're going to handle this shit like businessmen, sell the shit, make the profit and later for that gangsta bullshit. [Poot raises his hand.] Yeah.

Poot

Do the chair know we gonna look like some punk-ass bitches out there?

Stringer

Motherfucker, I will punk your ass for sayin such shit!

Yo, String, Poot did have the floor, man.

Stringer

Shut the fuck up, this nigga too ignorant to have the fuckin' floor!