Moral Midgetry

The Wire 3×8

Sapper: Goddamn! Can't you ever get a fucking police around here when you need one?

Det. Lester Freamon: They're driving 200 miles every couple of weeks out of sheer caution.
Lt. Cedric Daniels: It's beautiful.
Det. Lester Freamon: Yeah...
Det. Roland 'Prez' Pryzbylewski: What is?
Det. Lester Freamon: Mm-hm. The discipline of it.

Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: Fredericksburg? Going all that way to buy cellphones?
Det. Roland 'Prez' Pryzbylewski: One here, two there. No wholesale purchases.
Det. Lester Freamon: They've been dumping phones every two weeks or so and still they're worried about catching a wiretap. Just 'cause you're paranoid doesn't mean someone's not out to get you, right?

State Sen. R. Clayton 'Clay' Davis: I'm gonna bring you along, String, but it ain't gonna be an overnight thing. We spend this year dealing with the city, the next doing business with the state. However, year three... then we go for the gold, then we go federal. Then we see the man with his hand on the faucet.
Russell 'Stringer' Bell: What faucet?
State Sen. R. Clayton 'Clay' Davis: The HUD faucet, the money faucet.

Russell 'Stringer' Bell: Look, I don't know why we got to wait three years for that shit. I'm ready to run now.
State Sen. R. Clayton 'Clay' Davis: No. You're not. I mean, forgive me but you still showing a little bit of that street corner mentality. Bugging about every dime you spend, about the permits, about setting up a PAC, about dropping cash into re-election war chests, which, by the way, is how I get my gravy. Look, it takes money to make money, otherwise, hell, every pauper'd be a king.

Councilman Thomas 'Tommy' Carcetti: ... And what it shows people is that I know my business. That I will hold people accountable based on the facts. It's about what's right.
Theresa D'Agostino: There you go again.
Councilman Thomas 'Tommy' Carcetti: What?
Theresa D'Agostino: Do you think politics is only about winning the argument? That whoever has the right fact at the right moment wins? Clinton had facts. Kennedy had facts. Yeah, but Reagan? He couldn't summon a fact to save his life. It's not just facts, it's how you use them. When you get hold of a fact you go smart-ass and start beating on people. Clinton and Reagan... when they got up to speak, they gave everyone in the room comfort and confidence. You liked those guys. You were happy to think that they even liked you.
Councilman Thomas 'Tommy' Carcetti: You're saying I'm not likable?

Off. Anthony Colicchio: You know what this is? It's moral midgetry!

Maj. Howard 'Bunny' Colvin: You hustling?
Deacon: Educating.
Maj. Howard 'Bunny' Colvin: Are you charging for it or tuition-free?
Deacon: Tuition will come back to him tenfold in acquired wisdom. Besides, nothing in the world's more expensive than "free."

Omar Little: No, no, no, man. This right here, boy. This too good. This some kind of full-tilt setup, man, to catch a master scoundrel. Capone and whatnot. They probably got police behind every window. Hit this? You must be tripping. Home, James. Boy, you better keep your head back in the game or you gonna land us both in the pokey.

Political Analyst: Slow your words. Try to lock your eyes on whoever you talk to. Make them think they matter. Use open, warm phrases. Nothing sharp, nothing that bites.
Councilman Thomas 'Tommy' Carcetti: Where's the fun in that?

Russell 'Stringer' Bell: A cop shouldn't mess with a mother's pain.
Brianna Barksdale: No one should.

Russell 'Stringer' Bell: "War," man, we past this bullshit.
Avon Barksdale: Yeah, I forgot. You know, I knew I forgot something. We the Trump brothers.
Russell 'Stringer' Bell: Man, you don't give this shit up, you're gonna turn everything we built to shit.
Avon Barksdale: The Chump brothers. You know the difference between me and you? I bleed red, you bleed green. What you been building for us? You know what, I look at you, you know what I see? I see a man without a country. Not hard enough for this right here. And maybe, just maybe, not smart enough for them out there.

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