The Wire Quotes (Season 2)

It ain’t about what happened, you understand? It’s about using what happened to our advantage. Play or you gonna get played.[to D’Angelo]

You’re not the run-of-the-mill kind of a**hole, are you, Jimmy? You’re the special kind of a**hole.

While back, I took a stroll through the pit, I saw that kid we got running things down there, 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 p***y called. Now, if this no-count nigga got two cell phones, how the f*** you gonna sell any more of them motherf***ers? That’s market saturation.

Well, would we be police if we could?[Rhonda Pearlman: You all cannot spell for s***.]

We’ve been here so f***ing long that you’re starting to look good to me.[to Carver, during extended surveillance detail]

Pellets in plastic. Rat shot. What you need to be concerned about is what’s seated in the chamber now. A copper-jacketed hollow point 120-grain hot street load of my own creation. So you need to think for just a moment and ask yourself: What do I have to do before this man raise up his gun again?[after shooting Cheese with a nonlethal bullet]

You know what the trouble is, Brucey? We used to make s*** in this country, build s***. Now we just put our hand in the next guy’s pocket.

Lambs go to slaughter. A man, he learns when to walk away.

You know what the most dangerous thing in America is, right? Nigga with a library card.

You don’t think I’m gonna send any of my people up against Brother? S***, that n***er got more bodies on him than a Chinese cemetery.[to Stringer, about Brother Mouzone]

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. And it don’t matter that some fool say he different ’cause the only thing that can make you different is what you really do or what you really go through.

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.[to Bodie]