Favorite Quotes: All in the Game

[David T. Cole]

Indeed.

[Rinaldo]

Of course, once you start listing favorite quotes from The Wire, there's no end to it. So many great lines! So I'll limit myself to three for now.

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

"N----, is you taking notes on a criminal fucking conspiracy?"

And the loving exchange of after the arrests at the end of season 3:
Squeak: "You've got to be the stupidest motherfucker I've ever dated."
Bernard: "I can't wait to go to jail."

Edited April 4, 2014 by Rinaldo

[Raja]

It is not an actual quote but the scene where Snoop is talking to a "citizen" at the hardware store as if he were in the game when discussing the killing abilities of a .22 cal bullet.

 

For actual quotes as a union worker from season two, "seniority system sucks, unless you're senior"

Horseface "don't worry you're still on the clock"

Marlo discussing Omar's escape from his ambush "that some real Spiderman shit there"

And the scene that was the soul of the series. "String, what about Wallace"

[ChlcGirl]

"There you go. Givin' a fuck when it ain't your turn to give a fuck." - Bunk

"Lesson here, 'Bey: You come at the king, you best not miss..." - Omar

[Rinaldo]

Yep. I so agree with both of those, I put 'em in thread titles here. (Though I was a chickenshit about one of 'em.)

[ChlcGirl]

lol  The Wire is one of the shows that NEEDS to have all the cursing intact :D

The Wire and Deadwood :)

[spaceytraci1208]

"This look like money, mothafucka?! Money be green!" - D'Angelo (to Wallace after discovering counterfeit bills)

"Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeit!" - Clay Davis (hated that bastard but he forever changed the way I say "Shit")

"That was for Joe!" - Slim Charles (I just loved that guy's voice)

[ethanvahlere]

Takes a whore to catch a whore - Kima, Season 2, about McNulty.

You need a Day of the Jackal-type motherfucker - Avon to Stringer, Season 3, when Stringer wants Slim Charles to assassinate Clay Davis.

That's good. That's like a 40-degree day - Stringer, Season 3.

Day at a time, I suppose - Omar, Season 2, testifying at Bird's trial.

Those are some of the ones that make me laugh. Here are some of the ones that break my heart:

You gonna look out for me, Sergeant Carver? - Randy, Season 4.

Come on, now. A man don't be shedding no tears - Michael saying goodbye to Bug, Season 5.

What you do, what you do? - Bubbles upon learning Sherrod is dead, Season 4.

[Ujio]

This one, where Rawls talks to Jimmy at the hospital after Greggs gets shot, still gives me shivers.  It's one of my favorite scenes in the entire series, too:

"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."

[kahauna]

That's good. That's like a 40-degree day - Stringer, Season 3.

"We on it, String—like a 40 degree day!" ~ Sapper, after not quite getting Stringer's "40-degree day" speech.

 

"At this range? This caliber? Even if I miss, I can't miss" ~ Omar to Brother Mouzone

Edited April 27, 2014 by kahauna

[Raja]

The FBI pro-filer describing the fake serial killer of the homeless men starts running down McNulty's traits 

[Brooklynista]

"Where's Wallace at? Where the fuck is Wallace? Where's Wallace, String? String! Where the fuck is Wallace? Huh? Stringer?!" -D'Angelo Barksdale to

"Negro !You cannot travel halfway around the world and not speak any motherfuckin' English.! English Motherfucker!" Cool Lester Smooth to some random dockworker.

Edited June 11, 2014 by Brooklynista

[GodsBeloved]

Bunk: I'm just a humble motherfucker with a big-ass dick.

and because its just so wrong not to reference the rest of the exchange:

Lester: You give yourself too much credit.
Bunk: Okay then. I ain’t that humble.

 

Daniels: This! Is bullSHIT!!

Edited July 1, 2014 by GodsBeloved

[Princess Sparkle]

 

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

 

I just saw this scene yesterday and I, quite literally, rewound the scene 10 times just to watch that line, along with Shamrock's follow-up of "Yo, String, Poot did have the floor."

[Brooklynista]

A drunken Bunk to semi-sober Lester

"Do you know what the plural of pussy is?"

"Puss I "

[spaceytraci1208]

After getting busted buying the burner phones for the Barksdale crew, Bernard's girlfriend cusses him out while they wait to be questioned/charged. His response:

"I can't wait to go to jail!"

[suedehead]

A buddy of mine is a huge fan and knows the show inside and out. I knew of the show but had not seen it. He loaned me his box set saying it was required viewing for anyone worth a damn. The other day as a joke I texted "I'm stopping by Delores' for a shot and a beer." His immediate reply was "Bring the duck."

[Schweedie]

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

 

I just saw this scene yesterday and I, quite literally, rewound the scene 10 times just to watch that line, along with Shamrock's follow-up of "Yo, String, Poot did have the floor."

Same. I can watch that scene countless times for that bit alone. And speaking of Poot... His line to Bodie at the funeral?

 

"You do the 2-2-1? Shit look tight, yo."

 

It's my greatest hope that at my funeral there will be a flower arrangement worthy of being called "tight".

[Constantinople]

Season 4, when Lester returns to Major Crimes
Bunk: Lester do love listening to other people's phone calls, don't you? A bit of a pervert that way.

 

Season 2, when Bunk walks in dressed in lacrosse sweats instead of dressing with his usual, pinstriped, lawyerly affectation

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?

 

I think Bunk made a good point, and I don't think he was necessarily saying he was as good as Jim Brown.  But I like the expression "You putting yourself beside".  Plus I loved the way Clarke Peters read the line

Edited January 14, 2015 by Constantinople

[TudorQueen]

What of Jimmy McNulty's all purpose line? (delivered with every variety of emphasis possible): "What the fuck did I do?"

[AuntiePam]

I've borrowed a line from Marlo, when my husband or one of the kids complains about something triflin':  "You want it to be one way, but it's the other way."  I always feel a bit weird saying it though, considering the context in the show.

[Schweedie]

I feel like one of the saddest lines in the whole show belongs to Bodie during his talk with McNulty in 4x13: "I feel old." I don't know why, but something about it hits me.

 

Not to mention a minute later: "The game is rigged, man. We like them little bitches on a chessboard."

 

(I may have attempted to re-watch the end of season 4, and failed.)

[uoflfan]

I have so many favorite Omar quotes that I use daily, including:

1.  True that.

2.  Indeed.

3.  It's all good.

4.  I surely do.

5.  Thereabouts.

 

Omar's entire appearance at Bird's trial, from helping the bailiff work the crossword puzzle through "It's all in the game though, right?" was a masterpiece.  God, I miss Omar.  I'm watching Boardwalk Empire just for Michael Kenneth Williams who is made of awesome.

[TudorQueen]

I, too, was delighted to see Michael Kenneth Williams on "Boardwalk" and he was amazing as Chalky White. As for the rest of your post, all I can say, in his honor, is

 

"True, that"

[laprin]

Unknown cop during drug raid when one of the guys being rounded up says, "Officer, I just say no to drugs."

Officer: "Don't just say no. Say no, thank you, motherfucker." 

[Zola]

Season 1 Ep 2

Bunk and Mcnulty meet up with Bodie and D'Angelo  in the Pit.

Mcnulty : "This is just us talking right? Just you, me, my partner and.... what did you say your name was?"

Bodie: "I didn't say shit!"

Mcnulty: " Just you, me, my partner and Mr Shit here!"

 

Cracks me up everytime

[AuntiePam]

Not a quote, but I had to chuckle at this.  Season four, kids talking about their possible futures, and one of them says he wants to be a pediatric neurosurgeon, "like that Dr. Ben Carson at Hopkins". 

There was a time when Ben Carson had respect.

[MargeGunderson]

On re-watch, I appreciate Proposition Joe more the second time around. My favorites:

[From the basketball game be the east and west sides in Season 1, where Prop Joe is wearing suit and tie to coach his team]:

Avon: 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.

[From the second season when Prop Joe squares things between his nephew Cheese and Ziggy, at the behest of Sergi]:

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.

Words to live by Prop Joe, words to live by. 

[Zola]

I loved Prop Joe - he was the middle man and mediator in some many things; always walking the tightrope with the likes of Avon, Stringer, The Greek, Marlo and of course Omar waiting for him to fall either this way or that, trying to keep everyone happy.

And yet he had all this influence but spent his time repairing clocks and toasters, and coming out with some philosophical pearls of wisdom:

 

Quote

Omar on the one side holding a spade. And maybe Marlo to the other holding a shovel. And just at this moment... I managed to crawl out my own damn grave. No way do I crawl back in.