The epigraph is a quote from the episode that appears at the end of the opening credits sequence.
Epigraph list[]
Season | Episode | Epigraph | Attributed to |
---|---|---|---|
1 | "The Target" | …when it’s not your turn. | McNulty |
"The Detail" | You cannot lose if you do not play. | Marla Daniels | |
"The Buys" | The king stay the king. | D'Angelo | |
"Old Cases" | It's a thin line 'tween heaven and here | Bubbles | |
"The Pager" | …a little slow, a little late. | Avon Barksdale | |
"The Wire" | …and all the pieces matter. | Freamon | |
"One Arrest" | A man must have a code. | Bunk | |
"Lessons" | Come at the king, you best not miss. | Omar | |
"Game Day" | Maybe we won. | Herc | |
"The Cost" | And then he dropped the bracelets… | Greggs | |
"The Hunt" | Dope on the damn table. | Daniels | |
"Cleaning Up" | This is me, yo, right here. | Wallace | |
"Sentencing" | All in the game... | Traditional West Baltimore | |
2 | "Ebb Tide" | Ain't never gonna be what it was. | Little Big Roy |
"Collateral Damage" | They can chew you up, but they gotta spit you out. | McNulty | |
"Hot Shots" | What they need is a union. | Russell | |
"Hard Cases" | If I hear music, I’m gonna dance. | Greggs | |
"Undertow" | They used to make steel there, no? | Vondas | |
"All Prologue" | It don’t matter that some fool say he different… | D'Angelo | |
"Backwash" | Don’t worry kid. You’re still on the clock. | Horseface | |
"Duck and Cover" | How come they don’t fly away? | Ziggy | |
"Stray Rounds" | The world is a smaller place now. | The Greek | |
"Storm Warnings" | It pays to go with the union card every time. | Ziggy | |
"Bad Dreams" | I need to get clean. | Sobotka | |
"Port in a Storm" | Business. Always business. | The Greek | |
3 | "Time After Time" | Don't matter how many times you get burnt, you just keep doin' the same. | Bodie |
"All Due Respect" | There's never been a paper bag. | Colvin | |
"Dead Soldiers" | The Gods will not save you. | Burrell | |
"Amsterdam" | Why you gotta go and fuck with the program? | Fruit | |
"Straight and True" | I had such fucking hopes for us. | McNulty | |
"Homecoming" | Just a gangster, I suppose. | Avon Barksdale | |
"Back Burners" | Conscience do cost. | Butchie | |
"Moral Midgetry" | Crawl, walk, and then run. | R. Clayton Davis | |
"Slapstick" | …while you’re waiting for moments that never come. | Freamon | |
"Reformation" | Call it a crisis of leadership. | Proposition Joe | |
"Middle Ground" | We ain't gotta dream no more, man. | Stringer Bell | |
"Mission Accomplished" | We fight on that lie. | Slim Charles | |
4 | "Boys of Summer" | Lambs to the slaughter here. | Marcia Donnelly |
"Soft Eyes" | I still wake up white in a city that ain't. | Carcetti | |
"Home Rooms" | I love the first day, man. Everybody all friendly an' shit | Namond Brice | |
"Refugees" | No one wins. One side just loses more slowly. | Prez | |
"Alliances" | If you with us, you with us. | Chris Partlow | |
"Margin of Error" | Don't try this shit at home. | Norman Wilson | |
"Unto Others" | Aw yeah. That golden rule. | Bunk | |
"Corner Boys" | We got our thing, but it’s just part of the big thing. | Zenobia | |
"Know Your Place" | Might as well dump 'em, get another. | Proposition Joe | |
"Misgivings" | World goin' one way, people another. | Poot | |
"A New Day" | You play in dirt, you get dirty | McNulty | |
"That's Got His Own" | That all there is to it? | Bubbles | |
"Final Grades" | If animal trapped call 410-844-6286 | Baltimore, traditional | |
5 | "More with Less" | The bigger the lie, the more they believe. | Bunk |
"Unconfirmed Reports" | This ain't Aruba, bitch. | Bunk | |
"Not for Attribution" | They're dead where it doesn't count. | Fletcher | |
"Transitions" | Buyer's market out there. | Templeton | |
"React Quotes" | Just 'cause they’re in the street doesn't mean that they lack opinions. | Haynes | |
"The Dickensian Aspect" | If you have a problem with this, I understand completely. | Freamon | |
"Took" | They don't teach it in law school. | Pearlman | |
"Clarifications" | A lie ain't a side of the story, it's just a lie. | Terry Hanning | |
"Late Editions" | Deserve got nuthin' to do with it. | Snoop | |
"-30-" | The Life of Kings | H. L. Mencken |
Characters[]
Character | Number | Epigraph | Episode |
---|---|---|---|
James McNulty | 4 | ...when it's not your turn. | 1.01 "The Target" |
They can chew you up, but they gotta spit you out. | 2.02 "Collateral Damage" | ||
I had such fucking hopes for us. | 3.05 "Straight and True" | ||
You play in dirt, you get dirty | 4.11 "A New Day" | ||
William Moreland | 4 | A man must have a code. | 1.07 "Lessons" |
Aw yeah. That golden rule. | 4.07 "Unto Others" | ||
The bigger the lie, the more they believe. | 5.1 "More with Less" | ||
This ain't Aruba, bitch. | 5.2 "Unconfirmed Reports" | ||
Lester Freamon | 3 | …and all the pieces matter. | 1.06 "The Wire" |
…while you're waiting for moments that never come. | 3.09 "Slapstick" | ||
If you have a problem with this, I understand completely. | 5.6 "The Dickensian Aspect" | ||
D'Angelo Barksdale | 2 | The king stay the king. | 1.03 "The Buys" |
It don't matter that some fool say he different… | 2.06 "All Prologue" | ||
Bubbles | 2 | It's a thin line 'tween heaven and here | 1.04 "Old Cases" |
That all there is to it? | 4.12 "That's Got His Own" | ||
Avon Barksdale | 2 | ...a little slow, a little late. | 1.05 "The Pager" |
Just a gangster, I suppose. | 3.06 "Homecoming" | ||
Shakima Greggs | 2 | And then he dropped the bracelets… | 1.10 "The Cost" |
If I hear music, I’m gonna dance. | 2.04 "Hard Cases" | ||
Chester "Ziggy" Sobotka | 2 | How come they don’t fly away? | 2.08 "Duck and Cover" |
It pays to go with the union card every time. | 2.10 "Storm Warnings" | ||
The Greek | 2 | The world is a smaller place now. | 2.09 "Stray Rounds" |
Business. Always business. | 2.12 "Port in a Storm" | ||
Proposition Joe | 2 | Call it a crisis of leadership. | 3.10 "Reformation" |
Might as well dump 'em, get another. | 4.09 "Know Your Place" | ||
Marla Daniels | 1 | You cannot lose if you do not play. | 1.02 "The Detail" |
Omar Little | 1 | Come at the king, you best not miss. | 1.08 "One Arrest" |
Thomas "Herc" Hauk | 1 | Maybe we won. | 1.09 "Game Day" |
Cedric Daniels | 1 | Dope on the damn table. | 1.11 "The Hunt" |
Wallace | 1 | This is me, yo, right here. | 1.12 "Cleaning Up" |
[[|Roy Pelzman|Roy "Little Big Roy" Pelzman]] | 1 | Ain't never gonna be what it was. | 2.01 "Ebb Tide" |
Beadie Russell | 1 | What they need is a union. | 2.03 "Hot Shots" |
Spiros Vondopoulos | 1 | They used to make steel there, no? | 2.05 "Undertow" |
Thomas "Horseface" Pakusa | 1 | Don't worry kid. You're still on the clock. | 2.07 "Backwash" |
Frank Sobotka | 1 | I need to get clean. | 2.11 "Bad Dreams" |
Preston "Bodie" Broadus | 1 | Don't matter how many times you get burnt, you just keep doin' the same. | 3.01 "Time After Time" |
Howard "Bunny" Colvin | 1 | There's never been a paper bag. | 3.02 "All Due Respect" |
Ervin Burrell | 1 | The Gods will not save you. | 3.03 "Dead Soldiers" |
Fruit | 1 | Why you gotta go and fuck with the program? | 3.04 "Amsterdam" |
Butchie | 1 | Conscience do cost. | 3.07 "Back Burners" |
R. Clayton "Clay" Davis | 1 | Crawl, walk, and then run. | 3.08 "Moral Midgetry" |
Russell "Stringer" Bell | 1 | We ain't gotta dream no more, man. | 3.11 "Middle Ground" |
Slim Charles | 1 | We fight on that lie. | 3.12 "Mission Accomplished" |
Marcia Donnelly | 1 | Lambs to the slaughter here. | 4.01 "Boys of Summer" |
Thomas "Tommy" Carcetti | 1 | I still wake up white in a city that ain't. | 4.02 "Soft Eyes" |
Namond Brice | 1 | I love the first day, man. Everybody all friendly an' shit | 4.03 "Home Rooms" |
Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski | 1 | No one wins. One side just loses more slowly. | 4.04 "Refugees" |
Christopher "Chris" Partlow | 1 | If you with us, you with us. | 4.05 "Alliances" |
Norman Wilson | 1 | Don't try this shit at home. | 4.06 "Margin of Error" |
Zenobia Dawson | 1 | We got our thing, but it’s just part of the big thing. | 4.08 "Corner Boys" |
Malik "Poot" Carr | 1 | World goin' one way, people another. | 4.10 "Misgivings" |
Michael Fletcher | 1 | They're dead where it doesn't count. | 5.3 "Not for Attribution" |
Scott Templeton | 1 | Buyer's market out there. | 5.4 "Transitions" |
Gus Haynes | 1 | Just 'cause they’re in the street doesn't mean that they lack opinions. | 5.5 "React Quotes" |
Rhonda Pearlman | 1 | They don't teach it in law school. | 5.7 "Took" |
Terry Hanning | 1 | A lie ain't a side of the story, it's just a lie. | 5.8 "Clarifications" |
Felicia "Snoop" Pearson | 1 | Deserve got nuthin' to do with it. | 5.9 "Late Editions" |