Context

This line is spoken by Sergeant Phil Esterhaus, played by Michael Conrad, in the TV show Hill Street Blues (1981-1987).

Every week, Sergeant Esterhaus would gather the cops of Hill Street together to let them know about all the crime in the area. Crime they needed to stop. Murders. Robberies. Rapes. Prostitution. Arson. You name it, these boys in blue dealt with it. As he finished up his roll call for the day, he'd bid his officers farewell with the important advice—"Let's be careful out there." We sure hope they followed it.

Where you've heard it

The world can be a big, bad place sometimes. If someone tells you to be careful out there, you should definitely pass them a nice, big thank you.

The creator of Hill Street Blues also worked on the greatest (and only) musical cop show of our time, which included the spoof song, "Let's Be Careful Out There."

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

Being careful is just smart. Not pretentious at all.