- Marla Daniels: The tree that doesn't bend, breaks, Cedric.
- Lt. Cedric Daniels: Bend too far, you're already broken.
- Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: And you know why I can tell you all this? Because, you lyin' motherfucker, you're as full of shit as I am. And you gotta live with it and play it out for as long as it goes, right? Trapped in the same lie. Only difference is I know why I did it. But fuck if I can figure out what it gets you, in the end. But, hey, I ain't part of your tribe.
- Scott Templeton: You're not serious. You...
- Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: [interrupting] No. No, I'm a fucking joke. And so are you. Now get the fuck out of here.
- Sgt. Ellis Carver: They said you're leaving for family reasons.
- Dep. Comm. for Operations Cedric Daniels: Guess I got some kids somewhere I don't even know about.
- Vinson: [Michael is robbing Vinson] Shit. You're just a boy.
- Michael Lee: [shoots Vinson's knee] That's just your knee.
- Slim Charles: [during a New Day Co-Op meeting] Milton came with six hundred, and Little Glen is in for three.
- Clinton 'Shorty' Buise: I got five from me, and I got five from Chinaman to cover.
- Slim Charles: We still short nine hundred.
- Melvin 'Cheese' Wagstaff: I can go that, no thing.
- Ricardo 'Fat Face Rick' Hendrix: What? Muthafucka, where you get that kinda scratch?
- Melvin 'Cheese' Wagstaff: You don't think Cheese know this here game? We sellin' dope and coke in Baltimore, nigga. Any of y'all ain't got that kinda money need be ashamed.
- Clinton 'Shorty' Buise: You're still puttin' up more than your share with that.
- Melvin 'Cheese' Wagstaff: The way I look at it, we all gonna more than paid once we own the connect, so...
- Ricardo 'Fat Face Rick' Hendrix: Shit, nigga, we was good when ya uncle had it. You had to go ahead and put up with Marlo -
- [Cheese abruptly draws his gun and sticks it in Rick's face]
- Melvin 'Cheese' Wagstaff: See that? See now, that's just the wrong way to look at it. 'Cause Joe had his time, and Omar put an end to that. Then Marlo had his time, short as it was, and the police put an end to that. And now, muthafucka, it's OUR time. Mines and yours. But instead of just shuttin' up and kickin' in, you gonna stand there cryin' that "back in the day" shit.
- Ricardo 'Fat Face Rick' Hendrix: Cheese...
- Melvin 'Cheese' Wagstaff: There ain't no "back in the day," nigga! Ain't no nostalgia to this shit here! There's just the street, and the game, and what happen here today.
- Ricardo 'Fat Face Rick' Hendrix: You right.
- [Cheese lowers his gun]
- Melvin 'Cheese' Wagstaff: When it was my uncle, I was with my uncle. When it was Marlo, I was with him. But now, nigga -
- [Slim suddenly draws his gun and shoots Cheese in the head, killing him instantly. Everyone stares in shock as Cheese's body twitches on the ground]
- Clinton 'Shorty' Buise: What the fuck you do that for? Now we short the nine!
- Slim Charles: That was for Joe.
- [he walks away]
- Clinton 'Shorty' Buise: [to Rick, jerking his thumb at Slim] This sentimental muthafucka just cost us money.
- Sgt. Jay Landsman: He gave us thirteen years on the line. Not enough for a pension, but enough for us to know that he was, despite his negligible irish ancestry, his defects of personality and his inconstant sobriety and hygiene, a true murder police. Jimmy, I say this seriously. If I was laying there dead on some Baltimore street corner, I'd want it to be you standing over me, catching the case. Because, brother, when you were good, you were the best we had.
- Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: You turning the world upside down with your bullshit. How are you not in jail?
- Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: I don't know. The lie's so big, people can live with it, I guess.
- Det. William 'Bunk' Moreland: Jesus fucking Christ, Jimmy. I told you. I fuckin' told you it was gonna come to this. You played with fire, didn't you? And now we're all getting burned.
- Walon: He's just putting it all out there, you know, the good and the bad.
- Reginald 'Bubbles' Cousins: You know what? The bad don't bother me to have out there. Shit, I know the bad. I ain't lying to no one about the bad.
- Walon: Scared of somebody calling you good?
- Reginald 'Bubbles' Cousins: A lot of folks volunteer places. A lot of folks share at meetings. Plenty of motherfuckers wake up every day and not get high. Man making me sound special for doing what the fuck I need to be doing.
- City Editor Augustus 'Gus' Haynes: Whiting, Klebanow, Templeton... They snatch a Pulitzer or two, and they are up and gone from this place. For them, that's what this is all about. Me? I'm too fuckin' simple-minded for that.
- City Editor Augustus 'Gus' Haynes: You ever notice that the guys who do that, the Blairs, the Glasses, the Kelleys, they all start with something small, you know. Just a little quote that they clean up. And then it's a whole anecdote. And pretty soon, they're seeing some amazing shit. They're the lucky ones who just happen to be standing on the right street corner in Tel Aviv when the pizza joint blows up and the human head rolls down the street with the eyes still blinking!
- Managing Editor Thomas Klebanow: The pictures were sent to him. The police have confirmed...
- City Editor Augustus 'Gus' Haynes: It always starts with something true, something confirmed.
- Sgt. Jay Landsman: Jimmy, I say this seriously. If I was laying there dead on some Baltimore street corner, I'd want you standing over me, catching the case. Because, brother, when you were good, you were the best we had.
- Det. William Moreland: Shit, if you were lying there dead on some corner, it probably was Jimmy that done you.
- Det. Lester Freamon: We could still go to jail. And if not, I'd expect to be back in the pawn shop unit and you, my brother, are gonna ride the boat.
- Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: So what? It was worth it.
- [pause]
- Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: Wasn't it?
- Det. Lester Freamon: Depends.