Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is an American comedy film from the year 1986, that was written and directed by John Hughes. In this article, we bring you the best and funniest Ferris Bueller’s Day Off quotes that we keep on citing to this day.
The movie stars Matthew Broderick, Jennifer Grey, Alan Ruck, Jeffrey Jones, Mia Sara, and others. It follows Ferris Bueller (played by Matthew Broderick), a high-school student who also happens to be a slacker, as he decides to skip a day in school and enjoy it with his friend Cameron Frye (played by Alan Ruck) and his girlfriend Sloane Peterson (played by Mia Sara) while travelling and experiencing the city of Chicago where they all live.
Director John Hughes wrote the script in less than a week, and the movie became a huge hit and one of the top-grossing movies of 1986. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off grossed $70 million in movie theatres with a production cost of only $5 million.
In 2014, The Library of Congress chose to preserve the movie in the United States National Film Registry for being deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
The success of the movie, along with famous quotes from it, have made it a cult movie who everyone enjoys watching to this day. So let’s quote some funny phrases and sentences from it, shall we?
Here is a sneak peek at the quotes in this article:
Table of Contents
- Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Ferris Bueller Quotes
- Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Jeanie Bueller Quotes
- Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Ed Rooney Quotes
- Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Cameron Frye Quotes
- Honorable Mentions Quotes
- Interesting Facts about Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Ferris Bueller Quotes
Ferris Bueller: The place is like a museum. It’s very beautiful and very cold, and you’re not allowed to touch anything.
Ferris Bueller: I asked for a car, I got a computer. How’s that for being born under a bad sign?
Ferris Bueller: 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.” Good point there. After all, he was the walrus. I could be the walrus. I’d still have to bum rides off people.
Ferris Bueller: The question isn’t ‘What are we going to do?’ The question is ‘What aren’t we going to do?’
Ferris Bueller: This is the part where Cameron goes berserk.
Ferris Bueller: How could I possibly be expected to handle school on a day like this?
Ferris Bueller: Pardon my French, but Cameron is so uptight, if you stuck a lump of coal up his ass, in two weeks, you’d have a diamond.
Ferris Bueller: You’re not dying. You just can’t think of anything good to do.
Ferris Bueller: Que bella!
Freshman student 1: How desperate is the situation?
Ferris Bueller: Did you see “Alien”? When the creature was in that guy’s stomach? It feels like that. Freshman.
Ferris Bueller: 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 a good phoney fever is a deadlock, but 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 again, so is high school.
Ferris Bueller: I did have a test today. That wasn’t bullcrap. 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 – that still wouldn’t change the fact that I don’t own a car.
Ferris Bueller: Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
Ferris Bueller: A: You can never go too far. B: If I’m gonna get busted, it is not gonna be by a guy like that.
Ferris Bueller: 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.
Cameron Frye: The 1961 Ferrari 250GT California. Less than a hundred were made. My father spent three years restoring this car. It is his love; it is his passion.
Ferris Bueller: It is his fault he didn’t lock the garage.
Ferris Bueller: Oh, I’m sorry. I can’t come to the door right now. I’m afraid that in my weakened condition, I could take a nasty spill down the stairs and subject myself to further school absences. You can reach my parents at their places of business. Thank you for stopping by. I appreciate your concern for my well-being. Have a nice day!
Ferris Bueller: It’s understanding that makes it possible for people like us to tolerate a person like yourself.
Ferris Bueller: Never had one lesson!
Ferris Buelller: Look, it’s real simple. Whatever mileage we put on, we’ll take off.
Cameron Frye: How?
Ferris Bueller: We’ll drive home backwards.
Ferris Bueller: Four thousand restaurants in the downtown area, I pick the one my father goes to.
Cameron Frye: We’re pinched, for sure.
Ferris Bueller: Only the meek get pinched. The bold survive.
Ferris Bueller: You touch me, I yell RAT!
Ferris Bueller: Incredible, one of the worst performances of my career and they never doubted it for a second.
Ferris Bueller: See what a finski can do to a guy’s attitude?
Ferris Bueller: This is my ninth sick day this semester. It’s pretty tough coming up with new illnesses. If I go for ten, I’m probably going to have to barf up a lung, so I better make this one count.
Ferris Bueller: Ladies and gentlemen, you are such a wonderful crowd, we’d like to play a little tune for you. It’s one of my personal favorites and I’d like to dedicate it to a young man who doesn’t think he’s seen anything good today – Cameron Frye, this one’s for you.
Ferris Bueller: If you’re not over here in fifteen minutes, you can find a new best friend.
Cameron Frye: You’ve been saying that since the fifth grade.
Cameron Frye: What’d I do?
Ferris Bueller: You killed the car.
Ferris Bueller: If anyone needs a day off, it’s Cameron. He has a lot of things to sort out before he graduates. Can’t be wound up this tight and go to college, his roommate will kill him.
Ferris Bueller: Are you suggesting that I’m not who I say I am?
Maitre D’: I’m suggesting that you leave before I have to get snooty.
Ferris Bueller: Snooty?
Maitre D’: Snotty.
Ferris Bueller: Snotty?
Ferris Bueller: Cameron, I’m sorry. But we can’t pick up Sloan in your car. Mr. Rooney would never believe Mr. Peterson drives that piece of shit.
Cameron Frye: It isn’t a piece of shit.
Ferris Bueller: It is a piece of shit. Don’t worry about it, I don’t even have a piece of shit. I have to envy yours.
Cameron Frye: Oh, thanks.
Ferris Bueller: If you had access to a car like this, would you take it back right away? Neither would I.
Ferris Bueller: Hi, how you doing? I’m Ferris Bueller.
Ferris Bueller: Come on! Live a little!
Ferris Bueller: Cameron, what have you seen today?
Cameron Frye: Nothing good.
Ferris Bueller: Nothing – wha – what do you mean nothing good? We’ve seen everything good. We’ve seen the whole city! We went to a museum; we saw priceless works of art! We ate pancreas!
Ferris Bueller: You’re still here? It’s over. Go home.
Cameron Frye: Ferris, my father loves this car more than life itself.
Ferris Bueller: A man with priorities so far out of whack doesn’t deserve such a fine automobile.
Ferris Bueller: Smile, babe. Just smile…
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Jeanie Bueller Quotes
Jeanie Bueller: There is an intruder – male, Caucasian, possibly armed, certainly weird – in my kitchen… M-my-my-my name is Bueller… Look, it’s real nice that you hope my brother is feeling better, but I’m in danger, okay? I am very cute, very alone and very protective of my body. I don’t want it violated or killed, all right? I need help! Speaka de English? DICKHEAD!
Jeanie Bueller: Bite the big one, junior.
Jeannie Bueller: You’re letting him stay home? I don’t believe this. If I was bleeding out my eyes, you’d make me go to school. This is so unfair.
Jeanie Bueller: What’s his problem?
Katie Bueller: He doesn’t feel well.
Jeanie Bueller: Yeah right, dry that one out, you can fertilise the lawn.
Jeanie Bueller: That’s it. I want out of this family.
Boy in Police Station: Drugs?
Jeanie Bueller: Thank you, no. I’m straight.
Boy in Police Station: I meant, are you in here for drugs?
Jeanie Bueller: Why are you here?
Boy in Police Station: Drugs.
Boy in Police Station: There’s someone you should talk to.
Jeanie Bueller: If you say Ferris Bueller, you lose a testicle.
Boy in Police Station: Oh, you know him?
Jeanie Bueller: Go piss up a flagpole.
Jeanie Bueller: Well, where is she? This is her daughter. Do know where she is? Well, do you know when she’ll be back? Do you know anything?
Jeanie Bueller: In a nutshell: I hate my brother.
Jeanie Bueller: Excuse me: if whoever was in this house is still in the house, I’d like you to know that I’ve just called the police. I’d also like to add that I’ve got my father’s gun and a scorching case of herpes.
Jeanie Bueller: Maybe I’m overreacting. Maybe Ferris isn’t such a bad guy. After all, I got a car, he got a computer. But still, why should he get to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants? Why should everything work out for him? What makes him so goddamn special?
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Ed Rooney Quotes
Ed Rooney: Tell ya what, dipshit. If you don’t like my policies, you can come on down here and smooch my big ole’ white butt. Pucker up butter-cup.
Ed Rooney: So that’s how it is in their family…
Cameron Frye: I’m sorry, Ed, did you say you wanted to see a body?
Ed Rooney: Yeah, that’s right, just, uh, roll her old bones on over here, and I’ll dig up your daughter. You know that’s school policy.
Ed Rooney: Grace, Ferris Bueller is behind this. There is no doubt in my mind, and now, he’s got Sloane Peterson involved in this thing.
Grace: Her grandmother, too.
Ed Rooney: You pinhead.
Ed Rooney: I did not achieve this position in life by having some snot-nosed punk leave my cheese out in the wind.
Katie Buelle: Nine times?
Ed Rooney: Nine times.
Katie Bueller: I don’t remember him being sick nine times.
Ed Rooney: That’s probably because he wasn’t sick. He was skipping school. Wake up and smell the coffee, Mrs. Bueller. It’s a fool’s paradise. He is just leading you down the primrose path.
Ed Rooney: Uhh, you’re absolutely right, sir, you’ve hit the nail right on the head!
Ed Rooney: I don’t trust this kid any further than I can throw him.
Ed Rooney: What is so dangerous about a character like Ferris Bueller is he gives good kids bad ideas.
Ed Rooney: Last thing I need at this point in my career is fifteen hundred Ferris Bueller disciples running around these halls. He jeopardizes my ability to effectively govern this student body.
Ed Rooney: Come here doggy! Look what Uncle Ed’s got for you, you little fucker!
Ed Rooney: Between grief and nothing… I’ll take grief.
Ferris Bueller: Who is it?
Ed Rooney: You know damn well who it is!
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Cameron Frye Quotes
Cameron Frye: Ferris Bueller, you’re my hero.
Cameron Frye: Pardon my French, but you’re an asshole! Asshole!
Cameron Frye: This isn’t over yet Buster, do you read me?
Cameron Frye: Remember how insane he went when I broke my retainer? Come on, that was a little piece of plastic. This is a Ferrari.
Cameron Frye: You hit me. Look don’t make me participate in your stupid crap if you don’t like the way I do it. You make me get out of bed, you make me come over here. You make me make a phony phone call to Edward Rooney? The man could squash my nuts into oblivion. And-and-and then, and then, you deliberately hurt my feelings.
Cameron Frye: He’ll keep calling me, he’ll keep calling me until I come over. He’ll make me feel guilty. This is uh… This is ridiculous, ok I’ll go, I’ll go, I’ll go, I’ll go, I’ll go. What – I’LL GO. Shit.
Sloane Peterson: The city looks so peaceful from up here.
Ferris Bueller: Anything is peaceful from one thousand, three hundred and fifty-three feet.
Cameron Frye: I think I see my dad.
Cameron Frye: I am not going to sit on my ass as the events that affect me unfold to determine the course of my life. I’m going to take a stand. I’m going to defend it. Right or wrong, I’m going to defend it.
Cameron Frye: When Cameron was in Egypt’s land… let my Cameron go!
Garage Attendant: You fellas have nothing to worry about. I’m a professional.
Cameron Frye: A professional what?
Cameron Frye: Hey batta batta batta hey batta batta batta SWING batta!
Sloane Peterson: What could happen to it? It’s in a garage.
Cameron Frye: It could get wrecked, stolen, scratched, breathed on wrong… a pigeon could shit on it! Who knows?
Cameron Frye: Why can’t you let me rot in peace?
Cameron Frye: I don’t know what I’m gonna do.
Sloane Peterson: College.
Cameron Frye: Yeah, but to do what?
Sloane Peterson: What are you interested in?
Cameron Frye: Nothing.
Sloane Peterson: Me neither!
Sloane Peterson: What do you think Ferris is gonna do?
Cameron Frye: He’s gonna be a fry cook at Venus!
Cameron Frye: It’s getting late, buddy. We better go get the car back home.
Ferris Bueller: We have a few hours. We have until 6:00.
Cameron Frye: I’m sorry. I know you don’t care, but it does mean my ass.
Ferris Bueller: You think I don’t care?
Cameron Frye: I KNOW you don’t care.
Honorable Mentions Quotes
Economics Teacher: Bueller… Bueller… Bueller… Bueller…
Simone Adamley: He’s sick. My best friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s brother’s girlfriend, saw Ferris pass out at Flavours last night. I guess it’s pretty serious.
Economics Teacher: Thank you, Simone.
Simone Adamley: No problem whatsoever.
Katie Bueller: Mr Rooney, Ferris is home and he is very ill. I debated even leaving him. At this time of year, children are prone to taking the day off, but I can assure you that Ferris is a very sick boy.
Freshman student 2: Who’s he talking to?
Freshman student 3: Ferris Bueller, do you know him?
Freshman student 2: Yeah, he’s getting me out of summer school.
Freshman student 2: Shit! I hope he doesn’t die. I can’t handle summer school.
Maitre D’: I weep for the future.
Grace: He makes you look like an ass, is what he does, Ed.
Ed Rooney: Thank you Grace, I think you’re wrong.
Grace: Oh well, he’s very popular, Ed. The Sportoes, motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wasteoids, dweebies, dickheads, they all adore him. They think he’s a righteous dude.
Interesting Facts about Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Think you know the movie well enough? Even if you know it by heart, here are some interesting facts about Ferris Bueller’s Day Off that you probably haven’t known about.
- It Could Have Been Emilio Estevez – No, I’m not talking about the role of Ferris Bueller, but that of Cameron Frye. Emilio Estevez was offered to play the role of Cameron Frye, Bueller’s best friend. He turned it down, and instead the part went to Alan Ruck, who turned 30 years old a bit after the release of the film.
- Everyone Wanted to Play Ferris Bueller – A lot of big names were considered for the role of Ferris Bueller, and everyone were interested. So, who was considered for the main role? Johnny Depp, Rob Lowe, Jim Carrey, John Cusack, Robert Downey Jr, Michael J. Fox, and Tom Cruise. All of these fine actors were all considered for the role of Ferris Bueller. Good for you, Matthew Broderick!
- Molly Ringwald Also Wanted to Play in the Movie – Molly Ringwald wanted to play the part of Sloane Peterson, but director John Hughes told her that this part is not big enough for her. He also wanted someone older to play the girlfriend of Ferris, and was amazed to find out that Sara Mia (who eventually got the part) was only 18 years old.
- A Missing Cure Song for the Movie – The Cure’s front man, Robert Smith, wrote a song for the movie, yet it was never used. The song was written for the art museum scene in the movie. However, due to disagreements between director Hughes and music supervisor David Anderle, the song was never used in the movie, which is a shame, because I personally like The Cure.
- Living in Chicago Yet Wearing a Detroit Shirt – I am talking about the character of Cameron Frye. He lives in Chicago, yet throughout the movie, he’s wearing a Detroit Red Wings jersey. Why? Well, here’s why. During the first 12 years of his life, director John Hughes lived in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, and was a fan of the Detroit Red Wings hockey team. That is the reason that we see Cameron wearing this hockey jersey and not a Chicago jersey.
- Charlie Sheen is a Real Actor – Charlie Sheen has a small role in the movie, playing a guy who is detained or arrested at the Police station for something involving drugs as he says in the movie. He plays as if being high in that scene (probably due to the drugs), but what you probably don’t know, is that he stayed awake for more than two days in order to achieve his look in that scene. Now, that’s pretty impressive!
- It’s Not a Real Ferrari – In the movie, we see Ferris, Cameron and Sloane cruising the streets of Chicago in the Ferrari of Cameron’s dad. However, they weren’t driving in a real Ferrari. Instead, Modena has made three different replicas of the Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder, and those were used in the movie. In 2013, one of those replica was sold for $235,000.
- First Impressions of the Movie Were Not Good – When Matthew Broderick, Sara Mia and Alan Ruck watched the movie during an early screening a few months before it was supposed to be released to movie theaters, they didn’t laugh even once! At that moment, they were all afraid that the movie turned out to be bad and not as expected. Studio executives didn’t find the movie to be funny as well, so director John Hughes and editor Paul Hirsch decided to edit the film (which took them about two weeks), and the final version turned out to be the one we all know and love.
- Hints to Other John Hughes Movies – During Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, you can spot hints to other movies by the director. Where? Well, cars license plates. Most of them are abbreviations for titles to other movies by Hughes.
- Rooney’s car plate = 4FBDO (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off)
- Jeannie’s car plate = TBC (The Breakfast Club)
- Tom’s car plate = MMOM (Mr. Mom)
- Katie’s car plate = VCTN (National Lampoon’s Vacation)
- The exception is the Ferrari that has a car plate written with NRVOUS on it.
- Ferris Bueller Got Engaged… And Not to Sloan Peterson – Okay, not Ferris, but actors Matthew Broderick and Jennifer Grey (who played Ferris’s sister) got engaged in real life just before the movie came out. This did not last, because since 1997 and to this day, Matthew Broderick is happily married to Sex and the City star, Sarah Jessica Parker. The two have 3 children.
For more memorable quotes from famous 80s movies, please visit our pages dedicated to Back to the Future quotes, Die Hard quotes and Scarface quotes.