Giving a fuck when it ain't your turn to give a fuck.

The line "giving a fuck when it ain't your turn to give a fuck" really stood out to me in The Wire. I think this can be applied not only to the show but to all sorts of things in life. McNulty gets screwed because he cares about something that he didn't have to care about. Whenever someone wants to do something good, it often ends with them having to deal with a whole lot of shit. Most people never really have the nerve to do something like that. The selfish motivation of wanting to save your own ass always gets in the way. Maybe not even saving your ass, but just gaining something. The security guard who gives false testimony in D. Barksdale's case is obviously just out to gain something, and she doesn't care if it causes injustice. Although The Wire shows a really ugly side of life in Baltimore, McNulty shows that there are still some people who don't just act on purely selfish motives.