Cutty: Game done changed.
Slim Charles: Game's the same, just got more fierce.

Daniels: Detective McNulty,... when the cuffs go on Stringer you need to find a new home. You're done in this unit.

Dealer: [while being thrown in the police truck] Hey, we in America!
Officer Santangelo: Nuh-uh, West Baltimore.

Herc: [cuing up the theme from "Shaft"] Carv. He's a complicated man, and the only one that understands him is his woman.
Carver: Seek therapy.

Herc: Anybody I want?
Carver: Anybody.
Herc: I want more than one. I want the Olsen Twins.
Carver: You got 'em. Slaves. All they live for is to get you off. But so now who are you gonna do for 'em? One guy, one act, one time.
Herc: Right, and the minute I name a guy, you're gonna be like, "I knew you're a cocksucker from the first time I laid eyes on you. Steve McQueen? Huh, that's your fantasy? You fucking closet case motherfucker."
Carver: Steve McQueen?
Herc: Fuck you. It's a setup.
Carver: Both Olson twins. Ashley. Kate...
Herc: Mary-Kate. And yeah, I admire her body of work.
Carver: They're yours. All you gotta do is name a guy.
Herc: I'm not catching, I'm pitching.
Carver: No problem.

Herc: It's like one of those nature shows. You mess with the environment, some species get fucked out of their habitat.
Carver: Did you just use the word 'habitat' in a sentence?
Herc: I did.

Kima: [to McNulty] How come they know you're police when they hook up with you. And they know you're police when they move in. And they know you're police when they decide to start a family with you. And all that shit is just fine until one day it ain't no more. One day, it's 'You should have a regular job.' and 'You need to be home at five o'clock'.
McNulty: "You need to stop fucking waitresses."

Landsman: [to Bunk] Rawls and Foerster have crawled up my backside and they're gonna stay there until you find Dozerman's gun. Now, I would like it very much if I could unclench my ample ass cheeks, if you don't mind, and rid myself of that discomfort.

Lester: From the looks of things, Stringer Bell's worse than a drug dealer.
Prez: He's a developer.

Lester: Tell me something, Jimmy. How exactly do you think it all ends?
McNulty: What do you mean?
Lester: A parade? A gold watch? A shining Jimmy-McNulty-day moment, when you bring in a case sooooo sweet everybody gets together and says, "Aw, shit! He was right all along. Should've listened to the man." The job will not save you, Jimmy. It won't make you whole, it won't fill your ass up.
McNulty: I dunno, a good case--
Lester: Ends. They all end. The handcuffs go click and it's over. The next morning, it's just you in your room with yourself.
McNulty: Until the next case.
Lester: Boooooy, you need something else outside of this here.
McNulty: Like what, dollhouse miniatures?
Lester: Hey, hey, hey, a life. A life, Jimmy. You know what that is? It's the shit that happens while you're waiting for moments that never come.

Levy: [to Stringer] A guy says if you pay him, he can make it rain. You pay him. If and when it rains, he takes the credit. If and when it doesn't, he comes up with reasons for you to pay more. Clay Davis rainmade you ...... It's an old game in this town, and Clay Davis? That goniff was born with his hand in someone's pocket.

McNulty: [standing over Stringer's body, talking to Bunk] I caught him, Bunk. On the wire. I caught him. He doesn't fuckin' know it.

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

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: 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.