The Wire, Season 4

Carver:
Okay, so let's try this again. I say, "Have a good evening, Mr. Broadus!"

Bodie:
And a good evening to you, Sgt. Carver.

Carver:
See.

Bodie:
And a VERY good evening to you, Officer Collichio!

Colicchio:
F*** yourself with a 40, shit-breath.

Snoop:
God-dayumn.

Salesman:
I see you've got the DeWalt cordless. [pause] Your nailgun. DeWalt four-ten.

Snoop:
Yeah. Trouble is, ya leave it in the truck for a while, and need to step up and use da bitch, da battery don't hold up, ya know?

Salesman:
Yeah. Cordless'll do that. You might want to consider the powder-actuated tool. The Hilti DX460MX or the Simpson PTP. These two are my Cadillacs. Everything else on this board is second best, sorry to say. Are you contracting or just doing some work around the house?

Snoop:
Nah, we work all over.

Salesman:
Full time?

Snoop:
Nah, we had about five jobs last month.

Salesman:
At that rate, the cost of the powder actuated gun justifies itself.

Snoop:
You say 'power'?

Salesman:
Powder.

Snoop:
Like gunpowder.

Salesman:
Yeah. The DX460 is fully automatic, with a 27 caliber charge. Wood, concrete, steel to steel, she'll throw a fastener into anything. And for my money, she handles recoil better than the Simpson or the P3500. You understand what I mean by recoil?

Snoop:
Yeah. The kickback. I'm wit cha.

Salesman:
That's right.

Snoop:
27 caliber, huh?

Salesman:
Not large ballistically, but for driving nails, its enough. Any more and you'd add to the recoil.

Snoop:
Aw shit, I seen a tiny ass .22 round nose drop a nigga plenty a days, man. Motherf***ers get up in ya like a pinball, rip your ass up. Big joints though? Most the time they just break a bone and they just say "f*** it." I'ma go with this right here, man. How much do I owe you?

Salesman:
Six-sixty-nine, plus tax.

[Snoop counts out money]

Salesman:
No no, just pay at the register.

Snoop:
No man you handle that for me, and keep the rest for your time.

Salesman:
This is $800.

Snoop:
So what man? You earned that bump like a motherf***er, man. Keep that shit.

Chris:
We good?

Snoop:
Yeah, man. Man say if you wanna shoot nails, this here the Cadillac, man. Meant Lexus but he ain't know it.

Chris:
Hold a charge better?

Snoop:
Man, f*** a charge, this here's a gun powder activated, 27 caliber, full auto, no kickback, nail-throwing mayhem man. Shit right here's tight.

[Chris laughs]

Snoop:
Word. F*** this nailin' up boards, we could kill a couple mother f***ers with this right here.

Bodie:
[to Namond] What you need school clothes for anyway? Yo ass stay suspended. If it wasn't for social promotion, yo ass would still be in Pre-k nigga...Prolly day care out this bitch.

Carcetti:
I still wake up white in a city that ain't.

Bunk:
Better to be lucky than to be good.

Clay:
You think I have time to ask a man why he giving me money? Or where he gets his money from? I'll take any motherf***er's money if he givin' it away!

Namond:
Shit, I'll take any motherf***er's money if he givin' it away!

Namond:
I love the first day, man. Everybody all friendly an' shit.

Omar:
How you expect to run with the wolves come night, when you spend all day sparring wit' the puppies?

Omar:
It ain't what you takin', it's who you takin' it from.

Slim Charles:
Yeah, now, well, the thing about the old days: they the old days.

Security Guard:
You think I dream of comin' to work up in this shit on a Sunday mornin'. Tell all my friends what a good job I got. I'm workin' to support a family, man. Pretend I ain't talking to you. Pretend like I ain't even on this Earth. I know what you are, and I ain't steppin' to, but I am a man, and you just clip that shit and act like you don't even know I'm there.

Marlo:
I don't.

Security Guard:
I'm here. [Marlo moves closer] Look, I told you I wasn't steppin' to. I ain't disrespectin' you, son.

Marlo:
You want it to be one way.

Security Guard:
What?

Marlo:
You want it to be one way.

Security Guard:
Man, I don't...

Marlo:
You want it to be one way.

Security Guard:
Man, STOP! Stop, sayin' that.

Marlo:
But it's the other way.

Cutty:
[to the Deacon] You hang around and you can see me preach on some young-uns. Solemn left and sanctified right.

The Deacon:
A good church man is always up in everybody's shit. It's how we do.

Proposition Joe:
Business men, such as myself, does not believe in bad blood with a man such as yourself. Disturbs the sleep.

Omar:
Oh, I bet it do.

Marlo:
That's my money.

Omar:
Man, money ain't got no owners. Only spenders.

...

Omar:
[to Marlo] I like that ring too. [pause] Boy, you got me confused with a man who repeat himself.

Norman:
I'm a devious motherf***er once I get goin'.

Chris:
[to Michael] Yo' we always in the market for a good soldier. We see one we like, we take care of his situation. Take him in, school him, make him family. And if you with us, you with us. Just like we be with you, All the way.

Dukie:
There ain't no special dead. There's just dead.

Lester:
Remember when I was a cadet, I was up here on a cadaver search. Instructor gets on the radio to say "We're looking for one body in particular. If you go grabbing every one you see, we'll be here all day."

Carcetti:
Did you vote for me Norman?

Norman:
[laughing] The sanctity of the voting booth is a cornerstone of American democracy.

Norman:
A vote's a vote, and I never throw one back.

Clay:
Politics is a good thing, partner.

Carcetti:
That's a minority opinion.

Prez:
Trick them into thinking they aren't learning, and they do.

Norris:
You know what we use the polygraph for? Leverage. To get them in here and f*** with them.

Kima:
No wonder this shit's inadmissible.

Omar:
I've got a bounty on my head man. Five figures! If I'd known I'd be sharing quarters with all these boys - I'd probably wouldn't have robbed so many of them.

Bunk:
Aww, yeah, that golden rule.

Omar:
A man gotta have a code.

Omar:
[in a lockup room] Come on now, when have you ever known me to out my gun on someone thats not in the game?

Bunk:
[laughing] Omar...

Namond:
We do the same thing as y'all. 'Cept when we do it, it's "Oh, my God, these kids is animals!" Like it's the end of the world comin'. Man, that's bullshit, aight? This is like, what's it, hypocrite--hypocritical.

Zenobia:
We got our thing, but it's just part of the big thing.

Snoop:
Let us pray. Here we lay a couple New York boys who came too far south for their own f***in' good. Where ya f***in' Yankee pride at now, f***in' bitches? Let's get the f*** outta here.

Norman:
Did you hear that naked ass appeal to racial solidarity? I'd like to kick his pale entitled ass.

Marlo:
[to Herc] But you know cameras. Kinda like pigeons in the storm. You know what I'm saying? Sometimes they come back, sometimes... but I'll keep an ear out on it.

Michael:
Thought maybe I could get with Chris... I--I've got a problem I can't bring to no one else.

Omar:
[as he is leaving prison] You my ride?

Bunk:
I'm your mother f***ing savior is what I am.

Carver:
I like to think that until the handcuffs actually fit, there's still talking to be done.

Proposition Joe (To Andre) You know the problem with these here machines? They too cheap to begin with. Some people think for what it's worth to fix it, make the shit work right, you might as well dump 'em and get another.

Rawls:
Mr. Mayor, about Ervin - if you don't mind me asking - why keep him as a puppet commissioner when you can just fire the guy?

[Carcetti & Norman look at each other]

Norman:
We mind you asking.

Omar:
Man gotta live what he know, right?

Colvin:
You put a textbook in front of these kids, put a problem on the blackboard, teach them every problem in some statewide test, it won't matter. None of it. 'Cause they're not learning for our world; they're learning for theirs. They know exactly what it is they're training for and what it is everyone expects them to be. It's not about you or us or the test or the system. It's what they expect of themselves. Every single one of them know they're headed back to the corners. Their brothers and sisters, shit, their parents. They came through these same classrooms. We pretended to teach them, they pretended to learn and where'd they end up? Same damn corners. They're not fools, these kids. They don't know our world but they know their own. They see right through us.

Namond:
Bunny?

Colvin:
Only my friends call me Bunny.

Namond:
Yeah, but why?

Colvin:
You don't need to know. And if you tell anybody, I'll cut your balls off.

Snoop:
[after Chris beats a man to death] Damn... you ain't even wait to get the motherf***er in the house!

Carver:
The young man seems to think highly of you boss. He invoked your name with a measure of respect.

Colvin:
It wasn't but a few weeks ago when I was in a room with him being called everything but a child of God. "Mr. Colvin sir. F*** you."

Namond:
Yo' at least I said mister.

Bodie:
[about Marlo] He's a cold motherf***er.

Poot:
It's a cold world Bodie.

Bodie:
Thought you said it was getting warmer.

Poot:
The world goin' one way, people another yo'.

Omar:
Now Joe, you been so busy being devious, you done messed around and got yourself caught up in a web.

Bunk:
The Bunk is strictly a suit-and-tie motherf***er.

Daniels:
Detective Freamon, you have carte blanche in picking your squad. In fact, you can pick your supervisor, for all I care. Motherf***er, as far as I'm concerned, you are the Major Crimes Unit. It's morning in Baltimore, Lester. Wake up and smell the coffee.

Proposition Joe:
[after making a deal with Omar] 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.

Norman:
A wise man does not burn his bridges until he first knows he can part the waters.

Cheese:
Omar had one of them commando squads with him, man. I mean, he had this one ho' pulling guns out her pussy, unc! The shit was unseemly, man.

Landsman:
[to Lester] We do not go looking for bodies. Especially moldering f***ing John Does!

Carver:
[about Namond] His mother... [shakes head]

Colvin:
Lovely lady. What she say?

Carver:
"Put that bitch in baby booking where he belong. Let him learn something."

Carver:
I'm sorry, son. I'm gonna talk to Social Services. We'll get you some help. Randy.

[Carver tries to put his hand on Randy's shoulder, but Randy pushes him away]

[After sitting silently for a little while, Carver gets up and starts to walk away]

Randy:
[as Carver walks away] You gonn' help, huh? You gonna look out for me? You gonna look out for me, Sergeant Carver? You mean it? You gonna look out for me? You promise?! You got my back, huh?!

Wee-Bey:
[To De'Londa] Remember who the f*** you talking to right here. Remember who I am. My word is still my word. In here, in Baltimore, in any place you can think of calling home, it'll be my word that finds you. You still got me. We'll get by. But you gonn' let go of that boy. Bet that.

Dr David Parenti:
We get the grant, we study the problem, we propose solutions. If they listen, they listen. If they don't, it still makes for great research. What we publish on this is gonna get a lot of attention.

Colvin:
From who?

Dr David Parenti:
From other researchers, academics.

Colvin:
Academics?! What, they gonn' study your study? [chuckles and shakes head] When do this shit change?

Kima:
Bubs got some problems, but insincerity ain't one of them.

Walon:
Shame is some tricky shit, ain't it? Makes you feel like you want to change, and then beats you back down when you think you can't.

Bodie:
Come on with it, motherf***ers! I don't give a FUCK! [shoots at Chris] I'm right here! [shoots at Snoop] You ain't puttin' me in one of those empty-ass houses neither!

Chris:
[To Michael, after he kills someone for the first time] You can look him in the eye now. It don't matter who he is, or what he's done, you can look him right in the eye.

[Namond is approaching Bodie to go leave with his friends.]

Namond:
Ay, B.

Bodie:
'Sup?

Namond:
Um, I wanted to know if I can leave early 'cause me and the fellas want to go down to Mondawmin for some back-to-school stuff.

Bodie:
Whatchu need "back-to-school" stuff for? Yo' ass stay suspended!

Namond:
Tsk, c'mon, stop playin', B!

Bodie:
Hey, if it wasn't for social promotion, yo' ass would still be in Pre-K, mothafucka—prolly day care out this bitch!

Carcetti:
FUCK ME…..Where am I going again?

Norman:
One of those neighborhoods between Oliver and Middle East.

Carcetti:
Middle East…that’s a good name for it…fucking Fallujah.

Clay Davis:
Because if some federal motherfucker comes through the door, I say hey, it's all in the game. But a city police? Baltimore city?! Hell no, can't be happenin', because I have raised too much goddamn money for the mayor and his ticket. Hell no! Ain't no soul in the world that fuckin' ungrateful!

Clarence:
Calm down, Clay-

Clay:
Money-launderin'? They gonna come talk to me about money-launderin'?! In West Baltimore?! Sheeeeeeeeeit. Where do you think I'm going to raise cash for the whole ticket? From laundromats and shit? From some tiny-ass Korean groceries? You think I have time to ask a man why he giving me money? Or where he gets his money from? I'll take any motherfucker's money if he givin' it away!

[After De'Londa coerces Bodie to give her son Namond his own package.]

Bodie:
Damn, boy... yo' mom is what niggas call a "dragon lady".

Namond:
Ehh, she don't blink.

Bodie:
Yeah, it give me some insight, though.

Namond:
To what?

Bodie:
Why you is what you is.

[Bodie and Poot are talking about the cold weather.]

Bodie Damn... I oughta go somewhere warm for the Winter.

Poot:
Where?

Bodie:
I saw on Animal Planet... marlin fishin'. Like Florida, the Bahamas... that shit look sweet. The water was like this... this color, man.

Poot:
Tsk, man, it ain't gon' be that cold this year.

Bodie:
[scoffs] How you know?

Poot:
Global warmin'.

Bodie:
So why is it so cold already?

Poot:
Yo, we just gettin' old.

Bodie:
Yeah, true that.

[Bodie and McNulty are having lunch inside a diner as Bodie is ducking the riled up police.]

McNulty:
Not a good day to be cross-eyed in West Baltimore.

Bodie:
What, y'all behind on your quotas or some shit? What the fuck?

McNulty:
Seems one of my side got jumped last night.

Bodie:
[Chuckling] Yeah, Walker—I heard about that shit.

McNulty:
Threw paint on him.

[Bodie laughs.]

McNulty:
Walker's an asshole.

[A stunned Bodie looks at McNulty.]

McNulty:
Hey, you play in dirt, you get dirty.

Landsman:
All that from overnight?

Det. Ed Norris:
All that from Freamon. He's out early today rooting through empties.

Landsman:
You know what he is? He is a vandal. He is vandalizing the board. He is vandalizing this unit. He is a Hun, a Visigoth, a barbarian at the gate clamoring for noble Roman blood and what's left of our clearance rate.