"Cameron has never been in love - at least, nobody's ever been in love with him. If things don't change for him, he's gonna marry the first girl he lays, and she's gonna treat him like shit, because she will have given him what he has built up in his mind as the end-all, be-all of human existence. She won't respect him, 'cause you can't respect somebody who kisses your ass. It just doesn't work."

"If anybody needs a day off it's Cameron. He's got a lotta things to sort out before he graduates. He can't be wound up this tight and go to college. His roommate'll kill him. Pardon my French, but Cameron is so uptight, if you stuck a lump of coal up his ass, in 2 weeks, you'd have a diamond."

"Edward LeBeau - Gym Teacher"

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. I do have a test today, that wasn't bullshit. It's on European socialism. I mean really, what's the point. I'm not European. I don't plan on being European, so who gives a crap if they're socialists. They could be fascist anarchists and it still doesn't change the fact that I don't own a car."

"It's not that I condone fascism or any 'ism' for that matter. Ism's, in my opinion, are not good. A person should not believe in an 'ism,' he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon: 'I don't believe in Beatles. I just believe in me.' A good point there. After all, he was the walrus. I could be the walrus. I'd still have to bum rides off of people."

"Kristy Swanson - Simone Adamley"

"Del Close - English Teacher"

"Ben Stein - Economics Teacher"

"Charlie Sheen - Boy in Police Station"

"Edie McClurg - Grace"

"Lyman Ward - Tom Bueller"

"Cindy Pickett - Katie Bueller"

"Jennifer Grey - Jeanie Bueller"

"Jeffrey Jones - Ed Rooney"

"Mia Sara - Sloane Peterson"

"Alan Ruck - Cameron Frye"

"Matthew Broderick - Ferris Bueller"

"Leisure Rules"

"One Man's Struggle to Take It Easy"

"[after his parents have left, thinking he is ill] They bought it. Incredible! One of the worst performances of my career and they never doubted it for a second. How could I possibly be expected to handle school on a day like this? This is my ninth sick day this semester. It's getting pretty tough coming up with new illnesses. If I go for ten, I'm probably gonna have to barf up a lung, so I'd better make this one count. The key to faking out the parents is the clammy hands. It's a good non-specific symptom. I'm a big believer in it. A lot of people will tell you that a good phony fever is a dead lock, but, uh, you get a nervous mother, you could wind up in a doctor's office. That's worse than school. You fake a stomach cramp, and when you're bent over, moaning and wailing, you lick your palms. It's a little childish and stupid, but then, so is high school."

"[discovers that Ferris has been faking being sick and sneaking out of the house by finding a mannequin in his bed] I KNEW IT!!!"

"[on the phone after her encounter with Rooney] Look, this is not a phony phone call. There is an intruder, male, Caucasian, possibly armed, certainly weird, in my kitchen. My name's Bueller. [pause] Look, it's real nice that you hope my brother's feeling better, but I'm in danger. Okay? I'm very cute, I'm very alone, and I'm very protective of my body. I do not want it violated or killed! All right?! I need help! [pause again] Speak any English?! [hangs up] DICK HEAD!"

"[last line; in post-credits scene] [to home audience; after emerging from his bedroom] You're still here? It's over. Go home. [walks back to his bedroom; shoos audience away] Go."

"David Della Rocco – David Della Rocco AKA "Funnyman""

"David Thewlis – Knox Harrington"

"Sam Elliott – The Stranger"

"Ben Gazzara – Jackie Treehorn"

"Jon Polito – Da Fino"

"Dom Irrera – Tony"

"John Turturro – Jesus Quintana"

"Aimee Mann – Nihilist #4 in pancake diner, Toe Donor"

"Torsten Voges – Nihilist #3, Franz"

"Flea – Nihilist #2, Kieffer"

"Peter Stormare – Nihilist #1, Uli Kunkel, AKA "Karl Hungus""

"Mark Pellegrino – Blond"

"Philip Moon – Woo, AKA "The Chinaman""

"Tara Reid – "Bunny" Lebowski, AKA Bunny LaJoya, AKA Fawn Knutsen"

"Philip Seymour Hoffman – Brandt"

"David Huddleston – Jeffrey Lebowski – "The Big Lebowski""

"Steve Buscemi – Theodore Donald "Donny" Kerabatsos"

"Julianne Moore – Maude Lebowski"

"John Goodman – Walter Sobchak"

"Jeff Bridges – Jeffrey Lebowski – "The Dude""

"The Coen Brothers' 1998 follow up to Fargo is a mystery comedy for stoners. No character in the story is exactly what or who they seem to be. Inspired surrealistic dream sequences and touches of ribald humor spike the humorous punch. There's also a shot of red-hot political satire that predicts the Republican Party's post-Reagan shift toward nihilism. You'd never guess that the movie is loosely based on Raymond Chandler's detective novel The Big Sleep."

"Coen brothers' The Big Lebowski is a genial, shambling comedy about a human train wreck, and should come with a warning like the one Mark Twain attached to Huckleberry Finn: "Persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot." … Everybody knows somebody like the Dude — and so, rumor has it, do the Coen brothers. They based the character on a movie producer and distributor named Jeff Dowd, a familiar figure at film festivals, who is tall, large, shaggy and aboil with enthusiasm. Dowd is much more successful than Lebowski (he has played an important role in the Coens' careers as indie filmmakers), but no less a creature of the moment. Both dudes depend on improvisation and inspiration much more than organization."

"The Dude is an extreme case, but he provides an ideal which can help you to bring a little more "Dude" into your life, without giving up on the rat race entirely."

"We believe that the Dudeist tradition started as a response to the excesses of civilization. That was Lao Tzu's deal anyway. Lots of similar traditions dealt with issues of work and status and anxiety and nature the same way. But they were all, pretty much, taken over by fascists and real reactionaries. Even Taoism was taken over by charlatans and phonies. But the pure undogmatic centre of lots of traditions (Christianity, Vedism, Buddhism etc) is all the same. And that's Dudeism."

"Lebowski: not a man, a way of life."

"It takes guys as simple as the Dude and Walter to make a story this complicated … and they'd really rather be bowling."

"Times like these call for a Big Lebowski."