53 Responses for "100 Greatest Quotes from The Wire"

1. Chris D. November 17th, 2009 at 1:11 am 1

   Great post Ryan. The Wire was so great but it seems like so few people even know about it.

2. Antoinette November 17th, 2009 at 1:24 am 2

   Hey that’s TV. *shakes fist*

   Best quotes from this year? Hmmm…

   How ’bout both “Bon Jorno” and “Arreevadeerchi”?

   and maybe “I will see you there or I will see you on another time.”

3. Aaron November 17th, 2009 at 1:35 am 3

   I’ll always come back to The Wire as the best television ever and maybe even the best piece of popular art of the last, geez… decade at least.

   Anyway, from this year:

   “It ought to come like leaves to a tree or it better not to come at all.” -Keats in Bright Star on poetry

   “I mean, just look at that parking lot!” -the junior Rabbi in A Serious Man

4. Tufas November 17th, 2009 at 1:40 am 4

   Aaaaaand

   I still don’t care for The Wire.

   T.

5. Cahiers November 17th, 2009 at 1:59 am 5

   “Let ‘em melt…” from Rian Johnson’s The Brothers Bloom

   “You are now in the hands of the SS…my hands to be exact!” from Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds

   “If you get all four, you win the war.” Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds

   “Gimme that fucker!” from Joel and Ethan Coen’s A Serious Man

   (I’d second the parking lot line too)

   “Chaos reigns” from Lars von Trier’s Antichrist

   “To quote the great sage Jamie Gillis in Misty Beethoven…” from Steven Soderbergh’s The Girlfriend Experience

   “Let me show you a little California hospitality” from Ruben Fleischer’s Zombieland

   “Please keep buying Coke. It’s very famous.” from Ricky Gervais and Matthew Robinson’s The Invention of Lying

   “French toast…” from Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden’s Sugar

   “That was my favorite arm!” from Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are

6. Ryan Adams November 17th, 2009 at 2:01 am 6

   In the Loop:
   “Am I calm? I’m fucking ZEN!”

   The Road:
   You look at him again, I’ll shoot you in the head.

   Inglourious Basterds:
   “Say auf wiedersehen to your Nazi balls.”

7. Jonathan Spuij November 17th, 2009 at 2:05 am 7

   “Taking notes from a criminal f*cking conspiracy?” is my favorite.

   Love the show, started watching the whole thing this summer and it’s absolutely staggering. Amazing writing. Though Sopranos is still my favorite HBO show because it goes deeper into the psychology.

8. Ryan Adams November 17th, 2009 at 2:18 am 8

   Are you all the way through 5 seasons, Jonathan? Season 4 is the peak, for me.

9. Bill November 17th, 2009 at 2:35 am 9

   wait ryan, youve seen the road? any thoughts?

10. Bob November 17th, 2009 at 2:46 am 10

    “”Climbing the mountain of conflict”? You sounded like a Nazi Julie Andrews!” – In the Loop

    “Shut it, Love Actually! You want me to hole-punch your face?” – In the Loop

    “Don’t get sarcastic with me, son. We burned this tight-arsed city to the ground in 1814. And I’m all for doing it again, starting with you, you frat fuck. You get sarcastic with me again and I will stuff so much cotton wool down your fucking throat it’ll come out your arse like the tail on a Playboy bunny.” – In the Loop…again. Such great writing.

    “Each and every man under my command owes me one hundred Nazi scalps… and I want my scalps!” – Inglourious Basterds…Really Brad Pitt’s entire monologue qualifies as a memorable quote.

11. arjay November 17th, 2009 at 3:34 am 11

    Season 4, definitely the peak. Those 4 kids made it.

    Best quote will always be Clay Davis – sheeeeeeeeet

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCySTWFcnlM&feature=related

    Best quote from 2009 – Emma Thompson from An Education – “It doesn’t have to be teaching, there’s the civil service”

12. ryan - the original lower case "r" November 17th, 2009 at 5:20 am 12

    “But he’s a TALKING dog.” – Up

13. Grilled Cheese November 17th, 2009 at 5:58 am 13

    “Squirrel!” – Up

    “Yeah, Frigo was my best friend. Then, I turned four.” – Adventureland

    “Who’s got my fucking strawberry tart?”; “Fuck you Chelios” – Crank 2

    “So long, gay boys!”, “It’s funny because he’s fat” (that Mr.Chow is pure comedy) – The Hangover

    “This box is full of stuff that almost kill me.” – The Hurt Locker

    “That’s a Bingo!” – Inglourious Basterds

14. Grilled Cheese November 17th, 2009 at 6:04 am 14

    I did not find anything memmorable in I Love You, Man nor Star Trek

15. Hunter November 17th, 2009 at 8:00 am 15

    That left me cold. I suppose if you are are a fan those dialogue snippets have context: out of it they are strictly run-of-the-mill.

16. Michael Parsons November 17th, 2009 at 8:48 am 16

    “They talk like people in TV shows that I don’t watch.” – ‘Precious’

17. Gregoire November 17th, 2009 at 8:55 am 17

    “Don’t nobody want you, don’t nobody need you! And school ain’t gonna help none! Now take your ass down to the welfare!!!” – Precious

    “These damn things are hotter than a stiff cock!” – Julia and Julia

    And I wish I could remember verbatim the Keats quote from Bright Star about the butterflies.

18. Free November 17th, 2009 at 9:09 am 18

    “Season 4 is the peak, for me.”

    -I would have to say season 3 of the THE WIRE was absolutely perfect. Season 1 took me a while to get into, but it eventually left a mark. Season 2 was better. But season 3, man, that was the pure perfection. I liked all the seasons, but the last two didn’t compare to the first three in my opinion.

    I know this is an Oscar station, but I have zero problem with randomly recognizing great television once in a while, so don’t hesitate to do that again.

    Anyway, as far as good quotes from this year:

    “If I’m gonna die, I wanna die comfortable.” (The Hurt Locker, best quote from the best film so far).

    “We got a German here who wants to die for his country. Oblige him.” (Inglourious Basterds)

    “Potter, take Weasley with you. He looks far too happy over there.” (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince)

    “You tricked me, you black-hearted who-o-o-o-o-ore! You b-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-itch!” (the goat from Drag Me to Hell)

    “Darling. I don’t know how to tell you this, but there’s a Chinese family in our bathroom.” (5OO Days of Summer)

    “I’ve gotta be honest: he’s a real dick magnet.” (Bruno)

    “So long, gay boys!” (The Hangover)

19. chrisw November 17th, 2009 at 9:38 am 19

    All the above are good.

    The movie didn’t come out yet. I’ve only seen the trailer bu this line from Crazy Heart is excellent.

    “My tombstone will have my real name on it, until then I’m just gonna stay Bad.”

20. Lance November 17th, 2009 at 9:50 am 20

    “So long gay boys” – not a great a quote but an example of homophobia. Making fun of someone by saying they’re gay is not funny.

21. Free November 17th, 2009 at 9:54 am 21

    Lance, I didn’t put it up as an example of homophobia. It was supposed to be funny because the character who’s saying it IS gay.

22. Michael Cusumano November 17th, 2009 at 9:59 am 22

    I think you could do a top 100 just from In the Loop that script is so packed.

    “At the end of a war you need some soldiers left, really, or else it looks like you’ve lost.”

    “Turn that fucking racket off! It’s just VOWELS!”

    “No, it’s going to be difficult-difficult-lemon-difficult.”

    “Unofficially, we can call anything whatever we want. I mean, unofficially, this is a shoe.”

23. Lance November 17th, 2009 at 10:18 am 23

    Free – An actor playing a stereotypical gay character saying a homophobic line is still not funny and hurts the gay community. It may not seem like that big of a deal, but when the preferred cut-down in most schools is to say someone is “gay” or refer to something as “gay” it’s just assisting in all the bullying, harassment, hate crimes and bullying that is going on in America and around the world right now.

24. Hunter November 17th, 2009 at 10:29 am 24

    Man, Lance, I sure hope I’m not around if you ever watch BOAT TRIP with Oscar-winner Cuba Gooding, Jr. I think you’d explode.

    But did I miss the memo? You can’t call a gay person “gay” any more if you’re straight? What is the latest nomenclature?

25. ladylurks November 17th, 2009 at 10:31 am 25

    Where the Wild Things Are:
    “I’ll eat you up, I love you so.”

    Bright Star:
    “I almost wish we were butterflies and liv’d but three summer days — three such days with you I could fill with more delight than fifty common years could ever contain.”

    A Serious Man:
    “Even if you can’t figure it out, you’re still responsible for it on the midterm.”

    “Please, accept the mystery.”

26. Lance November 17th, 2009 at 10:45 am 26

    Hunter – It’s very simple, if you’re intent is to make fun of someone (context) and you do this by saying they are gay, then you are saying that there is something wrong about being gay. Hateful words lead to hateful actions.

27. Koch November 17th, 2009 at 10:58 am 27

    “Do you know how hard it is to make it as an indie band these days? There are so many of us, and we’re all so cute and it’s like if you don’t get on Letterman or some retarded soundtrack, you’re screwed, okay? Satan is our only hope.”
    - Nikolai (Adam Brody) from Jennifer’s Body

28. Nick K. November 17th, 2009 at 11:04 am 28

    “Happiness isn’t always the best way to be happy.”
    -Where the Wild Things Are

    “Unfortunately, babies do not come from beer glasses in America. They are laid by rabbis. If you are catholic, they’re laid by nuns. If you’re an atheist, they’re laid by dirty, lonely prostitutes.”

    “Do you have a favourite-sounding word? My top 5 are ointment, bumblebee, Vladivostok, banana and testicle.”

    -Mary and Max

    And I second the quote from “A Serious Man” about the uncertainty theory. It sums up the entire movie in one effective line.

29. Koch November 17th, 2009 at 11:09 am 29

    Polar bears cover their noses before they pounce on a seal. How do polar bears know their noses are black? Did they look in the water one day, see their reflection and say, “Man, I’d be invisible if it wasn’t for that thing.” -The Informant

30. Free November 17th, 2009 at 11:15 am 30

    Lance, not to belabor the point (because I understand where you’re coming from), but to me, the whole reason the quote was funny was because it didn’t mean anything.

    The gay character who called the straight characters ‘gay’ didn’t mean it in the way you’re talking about (i.e. someone saying something’s ‘gay’ to suggest it’s bad). He just said it, with no real reasoning behind it at all.

31. Hunter November 17th, 2009 at 11:15 am 31

    “None of you seem to understand. I’m not locked in here with you. You’re locked in here with ME!” – Watchmen

    “You have failed to maintain your weapon.” – Harry Brown

32. john November 17th, 2009 at 12:33 pm 32

    “I’ve always thought of myself as a bit of a lone wolf. A one-man wolf pack. But when my sister brought Doug home, I knew he was one of my own. And my wolf-pack, it grew by one… And when Doug introduced me to you guys, I thought “could it be?” And now I know: I’ve added two more guys to wolfpack. Four wolves running around together… in Las Vegas… looking for strippers and cocaine.”

33. Casey November 17th, 2009 at 12:34 pm 33

    Drag Me To Hell:
    “Soon it will be you who comes begging to me.”

    “Here kitty kitty kitty!”

    Precious:
    ‘Don’t nobody want you, don’t nobody need you!”

    “Who was supposed to love me? Who was supposed to make me feel good?”

    “Love beat me.”

34. A.J November 17th, 2009 at 1:49 pm 34

    “Action is character, if we don’t do anything we won’t be anyone” -An Education

35. Jose November 17th, 2009 at 3:08 pm 35

    I agree with “Squirrel!” from Up, priceless every time.

    My quote: “I didn’t want to wake you up, but I really wanted to show you something”- Carol in Where the Wild Things Are

36. Pedro Allah Akbar November 17th, 2009 at 3:12 pm 36

    Cat food

    District 9

37. lovespike November 17th, 2009 at 3:46 pm 37

    “…Fuck that day.”
    -Precious

38. Lucky Malone November 17th, 2009 at 3:49 pm 38

    Anti-Christ: Feral animal: “Chaos reigns!” (this year’s winner!)

    Drag me to Hell: Christine: ” I beat you, you old bitch!” and “You keep the coffee coming honey, or I’ll give you a tip you won’t forget!”

    Hurt Locker: Sanborn: “Will you ask him to please put his headset back on?!” (Sgt. James flips the bird in response) Eldrige: “Ah, yeah… that would be a “no.”

    Where the Wild Things are: “Oh, It’s that dog. Don’t feed it, he’ll just follow you around.”

    Sunshine Cleaning: “How did she die?” “It was a sort of do-it-yourself thing.”

    The Cove: (showing statues of dolphins and whales in Taji, Japan) “If you looked at this town you would think they actually loved dolphins and whales.” “You don’t enter the place prohibited.” “No… we don’t enter”

    A Serious Man (opening title): “Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you.” Message on the inside of the “goy’s” teeth: “Help me!”

    Inglorious Basterds: “If a rat were to walk in here right now as I’m talking, would you treat it to a saucer of your delicious milk?” IB also has the worst line in any movie:”Fuck a duck”

39. Cahiers November 17th, 2009 at 3:56 pm 39

    This is reminding me. Was A Serious Man shot intending to be Black and White?

    This is from my thead on IMDb

    Watching the featurette linked below two things caught my eye. The first is the moniter in picture one, which is clearly set up to show the image in grayscale, and the second in the second image is the man’s shirt that says “Long Live Black and White” It would make sense as the Coens have decided to print films they shot in color in black and white, that they’d decide to print this in color though they’d intended to eventually print it in black and white. If you look at some clips of the film or stills in black and white it definitely works, lots of contrasting shirt patterns and such, but the final film feels so decidedly and neccesarily color that it’s surprising it wasn’t inteded to be so. His neighbors orange house comes to mind.

    I’d love to hear about it from the Coens themselves though.

    one
    http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/5790/vlcsnap4012566.png

    two
    http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/9413/vlcsnap4012829.png

    featurette (go down to number six)
    http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810041776/trailer

40. Devlin November 17th, 2009 at 3:59 pm 40

    Love all the In the Loop quotes that have been mentioned. Man, what a great script.

    A Serious man had a ton of great quotes, I especially liked whatever Sy Abelman said, like: “I think, really, the Jolly Roger is the appropriate course of action”. The way he spoke to Larry was just so hilarious.

    Also, while not an original quote from the film itself, you gotta love the rabbi speaking with Danny after his bar mitzvah, just quoting Jefferson Airplane: “When the truth is found to be lies / and all the joy within you dies…What then?”

    And of course, from An Education: “One of the boys I dated, and they were boys, suggested that we go to Paris and I said I’d always wanted to see Paris. As if I’d never been!”

41. Grilled Cheese November 17th, 2009 at 4:08 pm 41

    @Lucky Malone
    I really don’t remember this “Fuck a duck” line

    @Lance
    ’stereotypical’ is not a word to define Mr.Chow. He’s a skinny tiny chinese gay mafia boss that talks non-sense and fights in a peculiar way.

42. dlen November 17th, 2009 at 5:24 pm 42

    An Education: Carey Mulligan and Emma Thompson’s last scene together.

    Mulligan’s Jenny says her headmistress must now view her as some fallen woman, to which Thompson replies:

    “You’re not a woman.” Ouch!

    Perhaps not a great quote but perfect delivery and very much in character for Thompson’s headmistress.

    Also, in Star Trek: When Spock is in charge and Kirk sits in the captain’s seat: “Get out of the chair.”

    Again, perfect delivery.

43. SaltireFlower November 17th, 2009 at 5:55 pm 43

    “Space is disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence.” – Star Trek

44. Casey November 17th, 2009 at 6:04 pm 44

    “You said you would help me! WHERE ARE YOU?!”
    - Charlotte Gainsbourg in Antichrist

45. Adu Owe November 17th, 2009 at 7:16 pm 45

    In the context of comedy, every person can get picked on. Gay, straight, black, white, you get the point. Gay jokes don’t necessarily mean someone is homophobic. If people laugh at the joke, then you say it. There’s nothing wrong with that.

    With that said, my favorite quote of the year is from Up in the Air:

    “How much does your life weigh? Imagine for a second that you’re carrying a backpack. I want you to pack it with all the stuff that you have in your life… you start with the little things. The shelves, the drawers, the knickknacks, then you start adding larger stuff. Clothes, tabletop appliances, lamps, your TV… the backpack should be getting pretty heavy now. You go bigger. Your couch, your car, your home… I want you to stuff it all into that backpack. Now I want you to fill it with people. Start with casual acquaintances, friends of friends, folks around the office… and then you move into the people you trust with your most intimate secrets. Your brothers, your sisters, your children, your parents and finally your husband, your wife, your boyfriend, your girlfriend. You get them into that backpack, feel the weight of that bag. Make no mistake your relationships are the heaviest components in your life. All those negotiations and arguments and secrets, the compromises. The slower we move the faster we die. Make no mistake, moving is living. Some animals were meant to carry each other to live symbiotically over a lifetime. Star crossed lovers, monogamous swans. We are not swans. We are sharks.”

46. Seankgallagher November 17th, 2009 at 8:09 pm 46

    Loved “The Wire” montage (although they left out my two favorite poignant quotes, which are “A man don’t shed no tears,” and “I don’t”), especially since they had the sense to begin and end with Omar.

    Favorite quotes from this year? Well, others have quoted quite well from IN THE LOOP, but I also love “You’re an idiot. Or are you a fake idiot?”

47. dlen November 17th, 2009 at 9:24 pm 47

    Also from Up In The Air:

    “Photos are for people who can’t remember.”

    As a non-facebooker and an chronic avoider of having my photo taken, I liked this one.

48. dlen November 17th, 2009 at 9:33 pm 48

    And from Duplicity at the end when Julia and Clive are left alone:

    Clive: “At least we’ve got each other.”

    Julia: “It really is that bad, isn’t it?”

    Final line: Julia: “I can’t breathe.”

49. dlen November 17th, 2009 at 9:41 pm 49

    And from An Education after Mulligan and Sarsgaard have done the deed (sorry not verbatim):

    Jenny: “All that poetry and all those songs about something that doesn’t last very long at all.”

50. Cahiers November 18th, 2009 at 1:01 am 50

    “Who left these fuckin iguanas on my coffee table.” from Werner Herzog’s The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

    I saw the film tonight and there are about a hundred more incredible quotes, but I think it’s best to give people a chance to see the movie before they’re spoiled.

51. Chance November 18th, 2009 at 2:03 am 51

    Engine…START.” from 2012. LOVED it! lol

52. blizzards14 November 19th, 2009 at 2:11 am 52

    There’s alot of memorable lines in Funny People.

53. Brian November 23rd, 2009 at 10:02 pm 53

    The Wire is the best show I’ve ever seen on cable or public television. The Departed was the only cop drama from the past 10 years that can even compete with the level of brilliance The Wire achieved; and that movie as we all know won the Oscar for best pic.

    Pure Grit.

    I miss it.

    Season 3 and Season 4 are both in the dictionary under masterpiece.

    Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet……