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.
S2 E6All Prologue
[At Bird's trial]
And what is your occupation?
Occupation?
What exactly do you do for a living, Mr. Little?
I rip and run.
You...
I robs drug dealers.
And exactly how long has this been your occupation, Mr. Little?
Well, I don't know exactly. I venture to say maybe 'bout eight or nine years.
Mr. Little, how does a man rob drug dealers for eight or nine years and live to tell about it?
Day at a time, I suppose.
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--
Just like you, man.
--the culture of drugs... Excuse me, what?
I got the shotgun. You got the briefcase. It's all in the game, though, right?
That wasn't no attempted murder.
Then what was it, Mr. Little?
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]
Why'd you shoot Mike-Mike in his, um... hind parts, Mr. Little?
Let's say we had a disagreement.
A disagreement over?
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.
Family cannot be helped.
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.
...
Thanks for bein' straight on this.
Fool, if it wasn't for Sergei here, you and your cuz' both would be cadaverous motherfuckers.
S2 E7Backwash
[about D'Angelo's death] But did your man Avon even knew about it? [Stringer shakes his head] You on your own here huh?
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.
What if they're not sneaking anything off this time? What then?
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.
[about Herc, modeling sunglasses] His name is Head. Dick Head.
It’s you Lester, it’s gotta be you.
Me, huh?
We need to bring in the Lieutenant, his detail and all of the manpower and toys that go with it. Daniels listens when you talk. You got the smell of wisdom on you brother. Now look, we all got roles to play.
What’s your role?
I’m just a humble motherfucker with a big ass dick.
You give yourself too much credit
OK then, I ain’t all that humble.
S2 E8Duck and Cover
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.
[about McNulty] You ever see how a dog gets when he smells a bone buried in the yard?
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.
[reading an affadavit] You all cannot spell for shit.
Well, would we be police if we could?
[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.
[Bunk comes into detail room wearing lacrosse sweats]
Lacrosse?
What, a brother can't run with a stick? Jim Brown was an All-American midfielder at Syracuse.
You putting yourself beside Jim Brown?
Lester, um, I'm, I'm just saying...
I thought you were born in pinstripes!
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.
S2 E9Stray Rounds
[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.
These quotes come from Wikiquote's The Wire pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.