JPJudge Phelan
McNulty, I hold you in contempt.
Who doesn't?
S1 E10The Cost
He said y'all would be paying my fee rather than his ownself...
Your fee?
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.
[Joe leaves. Stringer and Omar circle around the fountain]
I got a man who say he gonna give you your life back, yo.
Who? Barksdale?
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."
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?
Yo, I don't know shit about shit, alright? I'm just the messenger.
Whatever, man.
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'?
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?
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.
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.
Fine, if you can keep quiet about it.
Send my money through Joe, man.
You go through Joe, you're not gonna see two thousand of that. Why don't you tell my man where you at?
Nah, nah, nah, we gonna figure something else out, you heard? I'll be in touch, homes.
TWTroy Wiggins
Shakima, she's just talking like that 'cause I had her when she was good.
Shiiit, you the ugly-ass motherfucker that turned me the other way.
S1 E11The Hunt
Listen to me, you fuck. You did a lot of shit here. You played a lot of fucking cards. And you made a lot of fucking people do a lot of fucking things they didn't want to do. This is true. We both know this is true. You, McNulty, are a gaping asshole. We both know this. Fuck if everybody in CID doesn't know it. But fuck if I'm gonna stand here and say you did a single fucking thing to get a police shot. You did not do this, you fucking hear me? This is not on you. [McNulty nods] No it isn't, asshole. Believe it or not, everything isn't about you. And the motherfucker saying this, he hates your guts, McNulty. So you know if it was on you, I'd be the son of a bitch to say so. Shit went bad. She took two for the company. That's the only lesson here.
What do you need?
Room to work. I keep ordering people off the scene, and... between Narcotics, DEA, and the two districts, we keep collecting more and more bodies around here.
[raising his voice] Nobody move! I said, nobody fucking move! If you have not been assigned a specific task by a homicide detective, you need to step away from this crime scene. Is there anybody doesn't understand a direct order? If you have not specifically been instructed otherwise, then remove your useless, interfering asses from the area. Now! [to Landsman] Slow this thing down to a crawl. Give these bastards no chance to fuck up in a meaningful way.
If only half you motherfuckers at the district attorney's office didn't want to be judges, didn't want to be partners in some downtown law firm... If half of you had the fucking balls to follow through, you know what would happen? A guy like that would be indicted, tried and convicted. And the rest of 'em would back up enough, so we could push a clean case or two through your courthouse. But no, everybody stays friends. Everybody gets paid. And everybody's got a fucking future.
WBWee-Bay
[about his fish] Check it out, Dee. I need you to feed 'em while I'm gone. You gonna give 'em different food for each tank, too, alright? But don't worry, I'm gonna show ya what to do, c'mere. These are my tetras. You got Kimmy, Alex, Aubrey and Jezebel in here somewhere. I don't know, she think she cute. You take two pinches of whatever food I got next to each tank. They set for the day. You see, they ain't no problems. Just beautiful as hell, Dee. I'm gonna go upstairs, and pack some shit.
[leaving Burrell's office] Dope on the damn table.
S1 E12Cleaning Up
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.
Erv, will you explain to this motherfucker just what the fuck it is he's doing here?
Lieutenant Dan-...
[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.
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.
[stands] Anything else, Deputy Burrell? [leaves]
[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.
Where's Wallace at? ... Where's the boy, String?
D'Angelo, shut your mouth.
Where's Wallace? That's all I wanna know.
LLevy
Kid, you better think...
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.
A'ight, you stupid motherfucker, you made your decision.
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?!
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.
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.
[after D'Angelo questions him about not knowing about a particular restaurant.] Shit, if it ain't up in the West Side, I dunno shit, yo. 'Cause this shit? [points at the Pit] This is me, yo. Right here.
S1 E13Sentencing
[observing Bodie beat a competing dealer with a bat] See, that's why we can't win.
Why not?
They fuck up, they get beat. We fuck up, they give us pensions.
These quotes come from Wikiquote's The Wire pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.