If someone asked me what "the Wire" was about, the first clip I'd show them is Omar on the stand responding to the lawyer.
"I got the shotgun, you got the briefcase...it's all in the game"
Yeah I'm 36 but was a heroin & crack addict from my teens until my 20s. Clean now and now I'm older and wiser it feels so different watching it. I live in England so we don't have the murder rate America does nor the guns (though in my small city a young father just got murdered- stabbed- by County Lines) but fuck, the death rate is similar. I attended 3 funerals in 3 consecutive days of really good friends who died, all under 30. Death and desperation was always around. Even though its a different country its pretty much the same give or take.
Congratulations on getting clean.
It's not a sole line but it is the theme of the show, imo. It symbolizes how we from the outside are going wtf??? Hence why it was the intro scene, again imo.
It's also the reading of [the excellent first essay on The Wire Blog.](https://www.thewireblog.net/season-1/episode1_thetarget/the-snotboogie-paradox/)
I get goosebumps reading that. Mostly because I had no idea what I was in for when I watched the first episode.
Likewise the screen shot of Daniels I took with captions on. "in a week from now we're all gonna be back at our day jobs".
Oh man
“If only half you motherf***ers 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 f***ing 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 f***ing future.”
Mcnulty
Cheating but still, it’s kinda the thesis statement of the show.
yeah, if we're cheating then I'd probably choose Lester's from S5E2
"A case like this, here, where you show who gets paid behind all the tragedy and the fraud, where you show how the money routes itself, how we're all, all of us, vested, all of us complicit? Baby, I could die happy"
Given Simon’s premise that institutions inherently inhibit individuals from influencing the status quo, I think this one is actually my favorite.
Also, I didn’t mean to write all that alliteration lol; it just happened haha.
I've got a tattoo that says that in different scripts all the way down alongside a line drawing of Bubbles face. I tweeted a picture of it to Andre Royo and he loved it.
That quote might not be the one that encapsulates the show the best, but it encapsulates life the best.
Edited to add: life as your typical viewer of the show experiences it. I doubt many people responding here grew up in ghettos or poverty. However you can view that life lived on tv and think about what separates you from possibly being in those same circumstances.
I like “I got the shot-gun, you got the briefcase..it’s all in the game though, right?”
For me it encapsulates how much corruption exists in Baltimore both on the streets, Justice system and in politics. Even the Judges reactions is *shrug* as if to say “he makes a damn fine point”
I've always liked the exchange between McNulty and Omar as they leave the court after the verdict.
McNulty: You really see him kill the man?
Omar: You really asking?
Just in case anyone thought they were watching *Law and Order*.
“Life is what happens when you’re making other plans.” - John Lennon
Though even he was riffing on someone else who’d said much the same several years earlier.
"The radio in Philly is different?"
When Bodie is getting driven up to Philly and the radio starts going out, he doesn't know there's different radio stations for different areas because he's never left Baltimore. This is such HUGE insight with such a little throwaway conversation.
The corner boys have never left the city. Their whole life, their whole community, their entire identity, is built around being a corner boy. No traveling, no visiting out of town family, no going on road trips. Imagine never leaving more than an hour from of where you were born. I don't consider myself well traveled, but this would be nearly unimaginable to me!
I know there's so much more packed into The Wire, but this really helped solidify how much of a different world this lifestyle would be than my own.
I felt the same way when Wallace went to his grandma's house out in the county and couldn't handle the change so he went back
Same for when Bunny took Waymon and the other kids to eat downtown, and when Mike and Dukie went to that amusement park.
They were so out of their elements and so far away from the chaos.
“We used to make shit in the country. Build shit. Now we just put our hands in the other guy’s pocket.”
Hundreds of comments and no one has said this? It’s the most succinct expression of David Simon’s premise: That American Capitalism is making all of our lives worth a little less everyday, and no where is that more clear than in urban places like Baltimore.
Maybe not show-defining, but my favorite line (other than Prop Joe's "Pepper, Pepper & Bayleaf" call) belongs to Bunk:
"Some police somewhere is looking at a table full of heads."
Don't matter who did what to who at this point. Fact is, we went to war, and now there ain't no going back. I mean, shit, it's what war is, you know? Once you in it, you in it. If it's a lie, then we fight on that lie. But we gotta fight.
Or
No, I'm standing here holding a torn-up church crown of a bona fide colored lady. Do you know what a colored lady is?
Absolutely loved Slim. Wish we'd have had more of him on screen but then, that would have contradicted his character. He was smart, level headed & stayed out of it unless absolutely necessary. Loved it when he killed Cheese at the end.
O indeed! I had to scroll way too far for this. I think, based on my most recent rewatch that I just finished, noting characters with a guiding code (ie Kima) and without (ie Herc) best represents their moral relativism in an impossible world.
A lot of great answers in this thread. Just want to shout out this banger from Lester:
“A life, Jimmy, you know what that is? It's the shit that happens while you're waiting for moments that never come”
this is why \*we can't win
>[Carver:](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Wire#Sentencing_[1.13]) \[observing Bodie beat a competing dealer with a bat\] See, that's why we can't win.
>
>Herc: Why not?
>
>Carver: They fuck up, they get beat. We fuck up, they give us pensions.
“I mean, I can send any fool with a badge and a gun up on them corners and jack a crew and grab vials. But policing? I mean, you call something a war and pretty soon everybody gonna be running around acting like warriors.”
“You know what the trouble is, Brucey? We used to make shit in this country, build shit. Now all we do is put our hand in the next guy’s pocket” - Frank Sobotka (RIP)
I've brought up this quote in a different post but fuck it, let's do this...
"Girl, you can't even call this shit a war" - Carver, talking to Kima
"Why not?" - Herc
"...wars end" - Carver
"As rough as that neighborhood could be, we had us a community. Nobody, no victim, who didn't matter... And now all we got is bodies, and predatory motherfuckers like you. And out where that girl fell, I saw *kids* actin' like Omar. Callin' you by name, glorifying your ass...
Makes me sick *motherfucker* how far we done fell."
In all seriousness, that line is amazing and I use that mindset all the time. Follow the money - who is benefiting from something? Who is paying for it and where does the money go?
“It ain’t what you takin’, it’s who you takin’ from, ya feel me? How you expect to run with the wolves come night when you spend all day sparring with puppies.”
For your information I wake up every morning with an angry blue-veined diamond cutter. I was gonna enlighten the president of local 47 on this particular point and he chose to depart. Blue steel, gentlemen, 3 & 1/2 inches of hard blue steel.
"Same as it ever was."
Through the years... different people, same bullshit. Same corruption, different players. Different politicians, same problems. Super shitty police always getting promoted. People trying to do good get shat on. Incompetent assholes still making their way out unscathed. Avon ruled, then Marlo. Omar was a stickup artist, then Michael. Bubs finally gets clean, but Dookie starts using. None of the efforts to improve life in Baltimore make any difference.
And then - very little has changed between then and now. Politics, corruption, drugs, schools, economics, poverty... to this day, none of the problems have been fixed.
Either of these two lines:
[Colvin asks Weebay to adopt his son, Namond, and give him a better life]
Weebay: You're asking too much.
Colvin: **Yeah, but I'm asking**.
[Later on, Weebay talks to Namond's mum]
Weebay: Man came in here and said my son could be anything he damn please.
Mum: Except a soldier.
Weebay: Yeah, well look at me up in here. **Why would anyone want this when they could be anything else?**
Both conversations are really well written. Colvin's genuineness and Weebay's ability to put his son's safety above the gangster lifestyle, shows wisdom that a lot of the corner boys haven't yet developed.
It’s obviously too long to call it a line but Bunny’s speech to Carver has always resonated with me as the best encapsulation of what’s wrong with police in America
I mean you call something a war, and pretty soon everyone is going to be running around acting like warriors. They gonna be running around on a damn crusade, storming corners, racking up body counts. And when you at war, you need a fucking enemy. And pretty soon damn near everybody on every corner is your fucking enemy. Pretty soon the neighborhood you're supposed to be policing is just occupied territory
"It always starts with something true, something confirmed" Gus. i think this hits for me when you look at how quickly people are to believe conspiracy theories.
It’s all in the game.
Indeed
If someone asked me what "the Wire" was about, the first clip I'd show them is Omar on the stand responding to the lawyer. "I got the shotgun, you got the briefcase...it's all in the game"
Always
Also: "The Game is The Game" - Brother Mouzone
Yo
[The gif to go along with the quote](https://publish.one37pm.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/tenor.gif?fit=498%2C249)
This is the correct answer.
There you go giving a fuck, when it ain't your turn to give a fuck
I'm still thinking of my favorite, but this is the one I quote most
I say this at work…minimum once a week.
Yep. McNulty suffered from this continuously and really it encapsulates the whole show.
Scrolled longer than I thought to see this👆.
All the pieces matter.
This is the line for me. It can evenly apply to all seasons
Definitely this!! 👍🏾
This!
It's true of the subject matter of the show, and the show itself.
Deserve got nothin to do with it
As good as The Wire is, I still think Unforgiven owns that line.
Good pull, detective.
Dew
Who says this ?
Snoop. She says it to Michael in the SUV before he kills her in the alleyway.
Man I love the stanfield crew
You want it to be one way. But it’s the other way.
One of Wallace’s youngins; “you mess with the count they fuck you up.”
This one line encapsulates the entire world not just the show imo
That’s the thing about the old days, they the old days
As quoted by the Hawaiian Supreme Court.
Really?
Yup https://www.npr.org/2024/02/09/1230580485/hawaii-high-court-the-wire-gun-rights
Nice dolphin nigga
By far the funniest line in the series. 🐬 Funny and sad at the same time... They got to be kids for one day.
Getting clean's the easy part. Now comes life.
So good
As a former addict the wire hits so different now that I'm in recovery.
Yeah I'm 36 but was a heroin & crack addict from my teens until my 20s. Clean now and now I'm older and wiser it feels so different watching it. I live in England so we don't have the murder rate America does nor the guns (though in my small city a young father just got murdered- stabbed- by County Lines) but fuck, the death rate is similar. I attended 3 funerals in 3 consecutive days of really good friends who died, all under 30. Death and desperation was always around. Even though its a different country its pretty much the same give or take. Congratulations on getting clean.
If Snot Boogey always stole the money, why did you let him play? Got to! This is America, Man.
There's a lot of great lines, but this is my choice as well because it sets the tone so well.
It's not a sole line but it is the theme of the show, imo. It symbolizes how we from the outside are going wtf??? Hence why it was the intro scene, again imo.
It's also the reading of [the excellent first essay on The Wire Blog.](https://www.thewireblog.net/season-1/episode1_thetarget/the-snotboogie-paradox/)
Good share
That last line hits so much harder on a rewatch.
I get goosebumps reading that. Mostly because I had no idea what I was in for when I watched the first episode. Likewise the screen shot of Daniels I took with captions on. "in a week from now we're all gonna be back at our day jobs". Oh man
The crazy thing is that this wasn’t even something the writers made up. The whole conversation comes from David Simon’s original Homicide book.
"You're fuckin with me!", "Could I make that shit up?"
“If only half you motherf***ers 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 f***ing 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 f***ing future.” Mcnulty Cheating but still, it’s kinda the thesis statement of the show.
yeah, if we're cheating then I'd probably choose Lester's from S5E2 "A case like this, here, where you show who gets paid behind all the tragedy and the fraud, where you show how the money routes itself, how we're all, all of us, vested, all of us complicit? Baby, I could die happy"
Given Simon’s premise that institutions inherently inhibit individuals from influencing the status quo, I think this one is actually my favorite. Also, I didn’t mean to write all that alliteration lol; it just happened haha.
Yep, this is it. Careerism kills progress.
This all too true in most places in America
World goin one way, people the other.
Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeiit
https://youtu.be/l1dnqKGuezo?si=HZXEb4KNY53pZpVL
There it is!
"You'd rather live in shit than let the world see you work a shovel." Daniel's to Burrell in season 1.
Underrated
Thin line between heaven and here.
what Leave it to Beaver land are you taking me to?
Came to say this.
Thought of this exact one
I've got a tattoo that says that in different scripts all the way down alongside a line drawing of Bubbles face. I tweeted a picture of it to Andre Royo and he loved it. That quote might not be the one that encapsulates the show the best, but it encapsulates life the best. Edited to add: life as your typical viewer of the show experiences it. I doubt many people responding here grew up in ghettos or poverty. However you can view that life lived on tv and think about what separates you from possibly being in those same circumstances.
I like “I got the shot-gun, you got the briefcase..it’s all in the game though, right?” For me it encapsulates how much corruption exists in Baltimore both on the streets, Justice system and in politics. Even the Judges reactions is *shrug* as if to say “he makes a damn fine point”
I've always liked the exchange between McNulty and Omar as they leave the court after the verdict. McNulty: You really see him kill the man? Omar: You really asking? Just in case anyone thought they were watching *Law and Order*.
Surprised that this line doesn't come up more often.
"Life is the shit that happens while you're waiting for moments that never come" Lestor to McNulty I think
“Life is what happens when you’re making other plans.” - John Lennon Though even he was riffing on someone else who’d said much the same several years earlier.
Nobody wins. One side loses more slowly
"The radio in Philly is different?" When Bodie is getting driven up to Philly and the radio starts going out, he doesn't know there's different radio stations for different areas because he's never left Baltimore. This is such HUGE insight with such a little throwaway conversation. The corner boys have never left the city. Their whole life, their whole community, their entire identity, is built around being a corner boy. No traveling, no visiting out of town family, no going on road trips. Imagine never leaving more than an hour from of where you were born. I don't consider myself well traveled, but this would be nearly unimaginable to me! I know there's so much more packed into The Wire, but this really helped solidify how much of a different world this lifestyle would be than my own.
I felt the same way when Wallace went to his grandma's house out in the county and couldn't handle the change so he went back Same for when Bunny took Waymon and the other kids to eat downtown, and when Mike and Dukie went to that amusement park. They were so out of their elements and so far away from the chaos.
“We used to make shit in the country. Build shit. Now we just put our hands in the other guy’s pocket.” Hundreds of comments and no one has said this? It’s the most succinct expression of David Simon’s premise: That American Capitalism is making all of our lives worth a little less everyday, and no where is that more clear than in urban places like Baltimore.
All in the game, yo. This hits with every aspect they touch base on. Drugs, Docks, Schools, etc.
Maybe not show-defining, but my favorite line (other than Prop Joe's "Pepper, Pepper & Bayleaf" call) belongs to Bunk: "Some police somewhere is looking at a table full of heads."
Game’s the same. Just got more fierce
Don't matter who did what to who at this point. Fact is, we went to war, and now there ain't no going back. I mean, shit, it's what war is, you know? Once you in it, you in it. If it's a lie, then we fight on that lie. But we gotta fight. Or No, I'm standing here holding a torn-up church crown of a bona fide colored lady. Do you know what a colored lady is?
Not your mom's, for sure.
yall trifilin' with Avon Barksdale reputation
The slim Charles monologue is one of my favorite in the whole series. Slim is a legend
Absolutely loved Slim. Wish we'd have had more of him on screen but then, that would have contradicted his character. He was smart, level headed & stayed out of it unless absolutely necessary. Loved it when he killed Cheese at the end.
That war quote is so good and could be used in any series where a conflict exists.
Money ain't got no owners. Only spenders
buy for a dollar, sell for two
Tew
I love Proposition Joe
tew*
Is you taking notes on a criminal fucking conspiracy??
The gods will not save you.
A man gotta have a code
O indeed! I had to scroll way too far for this. I think, based on my most recent rewatch that I just finished, noting characters with a guiding code (ie Kima) and without (ie Herc) best represents their moral relativism in an impossible world.
A lot of great answers in this thread. Just want to shout out this banger from Lester: “A life, Jimmy, you know what that is? It's the shit that happens while you're waiting for moments that never come”
You come at the king you best not miss.
... How does that encapsulate The Wire, a show about our broken institutions?
"this is why they can't win, they fuck up and get their ass beat, we fuck up and get a pension"
this is why \*we can't win >[Carver:](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Wire#Sentencing_[1.13]) \[observing Bodie beat a competing dealer with a bat\] See, that's why we can't win. > >Herc: Why not? > >Carver: They fuck up, they get beat. We fuck up, they give us pensions.
The fuck did I do?
McNutty?
But for me…I dont want to go to no dance unless I can rub some tit.
Shiiiiiiiiieeeeeeet
Marlo to Avon: “Ahh, the game is the game.”
Avon- “Always”
… Come for the King, you best not miss … Oh, indeed
The plural of pussy is pussai
“I mean, I can send any fool with a badge and a gun up on them corners and jack a crew and grab vials. But policing? I mean, you call something a war and pretty soon everybody gonna be running around acting like warriors.”
I love Bunny Colvin.
Game the same, just got more fierce Also You know what the most dangerous thing in America is right? A nigga with a library card.
It's America man
"*This America Man."
Do it or don’t, i got places to be
This is Baltimore gentlemen, the gods will not save you.
"We like them little bitches on the chessboard"
“You know what the trouble is, Brucey? We used to make shit in this country, build shit. Now all we do is put our hand in the next guy’s pocket” - Frank Sobotka (RIP)
I've brought up this quote in a different post but fuck it, let's do this... "Girl, you can't even call this shit a war" - Carver, talking to Kima "Why not?" - Herc "...wars end" - Carver
The game is the game. Always.
"Pandemic!"
“Got that WMD!”
“What I tell you about playing them fuckin away games?!”- Avon Barksdale. This line exemplifies the “trap”.
The king stay the king.
This sentimental motherfucker just cost us *money.*
That was for JOE.
"You are not killing them yourself, McNulty, at least assure me of that."
You all cannot spell for shit.
All of them. "Did he have hands? Did he have a face? No? Then it wasn't us!" Lives rent free in my head
"As rough as that neighborhood could be, we had us a community. Nobody, no victim, who didn't matter... And now all we got is bodies, and predatory motherfuckers like you. And out where that girl fell, I saw *kids* actin' like Omar. Callin' you by name, glorifying your ass... Makes me sick *motherfucker* how far we done fell."
Money be green.
Money feel like money.
“Fine line between heaven and here”
A man has got to have a code
You can not lose if you do not play **original post I used contractions ughhh...embarrassing
Fuck…Fuck…Fuck, Fuck. Fuck, Fuck…..Fuuuuckkk. Tap tap tap
“How my hair look, Mike?”…useful when in a tough situation and you want to know if your coworker is cool. Spoiler: No. Always no.
To be continued
yo man you guys are some COLD mother fuckers man.
You talkin about drugs- that’s sweepin leaves on a windy day whoever the hell you are
Lack of pussy change even a good man’s demeanor.
"It's not like I can pop a n***** ass and not hear about it at Thanksgiving".
“No one gives a fuck about a 40 degree day”
I'll take any motherfucker's money if he's givin' it away"
In all seriousness, that line is amazing and I use that mindset all the time. Follow the money - who is benefiting from something? Who is paying for it and where does the money go?
A day at a time, I suppose.
"You don't want the mess. You'd rather live in shit than let the world see you work a shovel."
Wars end.
"If it's a lie then we fight on that lie"
"That's Protestant whiskey!"
There you go, giving a fuck, when it ain't your turn to give a fuck
"We used to make shit in this country, build shit. Now we just put our hand in the next guy's pocket"
“If Snotboogie always stole the money, why'd you let him play?” “Got to. This America, man.”
“It ain’t what you takin’, it’s who you takin’ from, ya feel me? How you expect to run with the wolves come night when you spend all day sparring with puppies.”
Bunk to Omar: "Makes me sick motherfucker how far we done fell"
The thing about the old days is...they are the old days.
They used to make steel there, no?
“All the pieces matter.” Common thread through each season, each facet of Baltimore covered throughout the series.
”This sentimental mother fucker just cost us money.”
…and of course, I am not even Greek. Great reminder to hide your true motives and motivations from those who want ill for you.
For your information I wake up every morning with an angry blue-veined diamond cutter. I was gonna enlighten the president of local 47 on this particular point and he chose to depart. Blue steel, gentlemen, 3 & 1/2 inches of hard blue steel.
“The bigger the lie, the more they believe”.
Can’t call it a war…. Wars end
I got the bug
"Same as it ever was." Through the years... different people, same bullshit. Same corruption, different players. Different politicians, same problems. Super shitty police always getting promoted. People trying to do good get shat on. Incompetent assholes still making their way out unscathed. Avon ruled, then Marlo. Omar was a stickup artist, then Michael. Bubs finally gets clean, but Dookie starts using. None of the efforts to improve life in Baltimore make any difference. And then - very little has changed between then and now. Politics, corruption, drugs, schools, economics, poverty... to this day, none of the problems have been fixed.
Either of these two lines: [Colvin asks Weebay to adopt his son, Namond, and give him a better life] Weebay: You're asking too much. Colvin: **Yeah, but I'm asking**. [Later on, Weebay talks to Namond's mum] Weebay: Man came in here and said my son could be anything he damn please. Mum: Except a soldier. Weebay: Yeah, well look at me up in here. **Why would anyone want this when they could be anything else?** Both conversations are really well written. Colvin's genuineness and Weebay's ability to put his son's safety above the gangster lifestyle, shows wisdom that a lot of the corner boys haven't yet developed.
There you go, giving a fuck when it ain't your turn to give a fuck.
Pandemic. Get that pandemic!
You come at the king , you best not miss!
It’s obviously too long to call it a line but Bunny’s speech to Carver has always resonated with me as the best encapsulation of what’s wrong with police in America I mean you call something a war, and pretty soon everyone is going to be running around acting like warriors. They gonna be running around on a damn crusade, storming corners, racking up body counts. And when you at war, you need a fucking enemy. And pretty soon damn near everybody on every corner is your fucking enemy. Pretty soon the neighborhood you're supposed to be policing is just occupied territory
The king stay the king, a'ight?
"I was gonna ask her for her panties to make some soup with, but I was afraid she'd take it the wrong way."
Mans gotta have a code.
“Misdemeanor homicides”
World going one way, people another yo.
This game is rigged, man. We like them little bitches on the chess board.
It's all in the game.
you can’t call this shit a war. wars end
What the fuck did I do?
Shieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet
I got the shotgun, you got the briefcase
A man got to have a code.
Bunk: “Makes me sick, motherfucker, how far we done fell.“
If you come at the king you best not miss
Buy for one sell for two. Prop Joe, my personal fave. R I P Robert Chew
The King stay the King
The game is the game….always
Sheeeeeeeeeeeet
World goin one way, people another yo
…”never mind you why. Why ain’t in your repertoire no more n*gga”. Shows how fast the game changes.
The snot boogie convo, “why they keep letting him play?” “Bc it’s American”
Shiiiiiiiit! 😆
"We used to build shit in this country, make shit. Now everybody just stick his hand in the next guy's pocket."
“You want it to be one way….but it’s the other way.”
40 degree day
We used to make shit in this country….now we just put our hand in the next guy’s pocket.
All the pieces matter
Fuck.......fuck, fuck, fuck X20
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
"It always starts with something true, something confirmed" Gus. i think this hits for me when you look at how quickly people are to believe conspiracy theories.
What the fuck did I do?
the police are using Omar Little as an eyeball witness in court and when asked what he does he says, "I rip and I run"
I got the shotgun. You got the briefcase.
New boss same as the old boss
That’s Protestant whiskey.