McNulty: [to Stringer] I had such fuckin' hopes for us.

McNulty: All I did was answer the guy's questions, he's a fucking judge.
Landsman: And the Deputy's the fucking Deputy, and he, not the judge, has what's left of your be-shitted career in his hot little hands.

McNulty: Fuck it, they chew you up, they gotta spit you back out.

McNulty: I feel like I don't even belong to any world that even fucking matters.
Kima: 'Cause you're a cop?
McNulty: Nah, it's not just that. It's like, I went to meet her once; she was in a hotel room on the top floor. I punched the button on the elevator and it doesn't even go there. You gotta have some kind of special key to even get to that special fucking floor. So I go to the front desk, some sneering fuck calls upstairs, gives me permission to go and get laid. I listen to the shit she talks about and it's the first time in my life I feel like a fucking doormat. Like anyone else with any smarts would do something else with his life, you know? Earn money, or ... get elected. Like I'm just a breathing machine for my fucking dick. I'm serious; I'm the smartest asshole in three districts and she looks at me like I'm some stupid fuck playing some stupid game for stupid penny-ante stakes. She fucking looks through me, Kima.

McNulty: I'm late for soccer practice.
Bubbles: Suck what?

McNulty: Lester, are we still cops?
Freamon: Technically, I suppose so.
McNulty: OK, I was just checking.

McNulty: On this case, we're never where we need to be.

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.

McNulty: We're good at this Lester. In this town, we're as good as it gets.
Lester: Natural police.
McNulty: Fuck yes. Natural police.
...
McNulty: You know something, Lester? I do believe there aren't five swinging dicks in the entire department who can do what we do.

McNulty: Wonder what it feels like to work in a real fuckin' police department.

McNulty: You lying motherfucker, you're as full of shit as I am. And you've got to live with it and play it out as far 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'm not part of your tribe.
Templeton: You're not serious?
McNulty: No, no, I'm a fucking joke. And so are you.

McNulty: You miss what you had though?
Kima: I still got too much dog in me to be settled like that.

McNulty: You see the preliminary? Positives for oral, vaginal, anal. No IDs, no passports, no visas, no real money - and the girls are coming across the water like that.
Bunk: Yeah.
Lester: McNulty has a theory...
Bunk: Does he now?
Lester: You deductive motherfucker, you.
Bunk: So he's gonna wander in here with some johnny-come-lately bullshit about how all these girls must be coming over here as prostitutes. Talking about how if they ain't got the cash to travel better than a container ship, then they sure as shit don't got the money to pay a plastic surgeon.
Lester: Then he's gonna go past that. And say something about that one found dead in the water - being tossed off the ship after she's already dead from a beat-down?
Bunk: But why did she get beat? He's gonna ask us that like we don't know.
Lester: Then he's gonna answer his own question, and say her swabs are negative, right? Fuck or fight with all them sailor boys - and she fought.
Bunk: So, it got a little rough, she got banged around, she comes up dead. And then, somebody panics and tosses her in the harbour overnight before the ship ties up.
Beadie: But the other girls saw.
Bunk: So now the other girls, they get told to get back in that can. And our man, to cover this shit up, he gets up on top and bangs down the airpipe. [stands up, sighs dramatically] Anything else you wanna tell us?

McNulty: You start to tell the story, you think you're the hero, and then when you get done talking...

Michael: Everything so serious now.