- Mariah Dillard: I've been around the music business my whole life, equipment goes missing. You can't trust niggas around equipment.
- Luke Cage: I'm done, Willis. I'm not doing this anymore.
- Willis 'Diamondback' Stryker: You ain't done. Not till one of us is dead.
- Luke Cage: You're more like Dad than you think. When I got shipped to Seagate he called me a mistake, too. I'm not paying for his sins anymore. And neither should you. You want me dead? Then kill me. Do it!
- Hernan 'Shades' Alvarez: [hands Mariah the gun he used to shoot Candace] It's old-school, has a nice feel.
- Mariah Dillard: It belonged to Cornell.
- Hernan 'Shades' Alvarez: It suits you.
- Misty Knight: This shield ain't worth the tin it's printed on if Mariah Dillard can just walk out of here after what she's done. This system is broken, Priscilla.
- Inspector Priscilla Ridley: Mercedes you are one of the finest detectives I have ever seen, but you have got to learn that there is no getting around the system. You must work within it. Candace should have been in protective custody. She should have been here and I should have known about it. Mariah Dillard walked out of here today because of you. Because you didn't trust our system. Because you didn't trust me.
- Willis 'Diamondback' Stryker: [Fighting Luke] James never loved Etta. He was gonna leave your mother for mine.
- Bystander: Wait, wait, wait. Yo, the dude's talking about your moms, Luke? You reppin' Harlem, you better put it on him, son!
- Aisha Axton: All these people were talking bad about Luke Cage. But they didn't stop for one minute to look at the good he had done. Cleaning up Crispus Attucks by himself, lookin' out for people? Most of these guys wear spandex. Who would have thought a black man in a hoodie would be a hero?
- Luke Cage: People needed someone that didn't require a warrant or shield to get things done. Call it a vigilante, or a superhero... Call it what you will, but like it or not, I finally accepted that that someone had to be me.
- Misty Knight: Maybe I could've helped you.
- Luke Cage: This burden is bigger than you. Or me. People are scared but they can't be paralyzed by that fear. You have to fight for what's right every single day, bulletproof skin or not. You can't just not snitch, or turn away or take money under the table because life has turned you sour. When did people stop caring? Harlem is supposed to represent our hopes and dreams. It's the pinnacle of black art, politics, innovation. It's supposed to be a shining light to the world. It's our responsibility to push forward, so that the next generation will be further along than us. Pop said his mantra aloud twice a day. The kids in the shop were pissed but they could never unhear it. "Never backwards..."
- Pop: [Flashback] Always forward.