How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from The Breakfast Club.
Quote #1
BENDER: You get along with your parents?
ANDREW: Well if I say yes, I'm an idiot, right?
BENDER: You're an idiot anyway... but if you say you get along with your parents well you're a liar too!
Actually, as Andrew reveals later on, he doesn't get along with his parents—or to be more accurate, he gets along with his dad on the surface, but is discontent under the surface. Right now, he's still not ready to reveal this much about himself, which is why he implies that he does get along with them.
Quote #2
BENDER: Ah. Here's my impression of life at Big Bri's house: "Son?" "Yeah, Dad?" "How was your day, pal?" "Great, Dad! How's yours?" "Super! Say, how would like to go fishing this weekend?" "Great, Dad! But I got homework to do." "That's okay, son! You can do it on the boat!" "Gee!" "Dear, isn't our son swell?" "Yes, dear. Isn't life swell?"
ANDREW: All right, what about your family?
BENDER: My family? Oh, that's easy. "Stupid, worthless, no good, goddamned, free loading son-of-a-bitch!" "Retarded, big mouth, know-it-all asshole jerk!" "You forgot ugly, lazy, and disrespectful!" "Shut up, bitch! Go fix me a turkey pot pie!" "What about you, Dad?" "Fuck you!" "No, Dad, what about you?" "Fuck you!" "No, Dad, what about you?!" "Fuck you!"
Bender claims that this is what his family life really looks like—an abusive, profane, obnoxious dad (the "turkey pot pie" bit is particularly memorable). Andrew doesn't believe him, but Bender tries to prove it with the cigar burn his dad apparently gave him on the arm. This all provides a good psychological explanation for Bender's behavior—he constantly makes inappropriate and aggressive jokes in order to fight back against his dad and against the world, both of which he thinks are against him.
Quote #3
BENDER: Do you believe this? Huh? It's about the size of a cigar. Do I stutter? You see, this is what you get in my house when you spill paint in the garage. See, I don't think that I need to sit here with you f***in' dildos anymore!
Bender doesn't think anyone else around him has suffered the way he's suffered, which is why he doesn't want to hang out with them anymore. He doesn't realize that Brian's nearly attempted suicide, and that Andrew's deeply conflicted about his own dad's competitive, athletic obsession. The cigar burn's a way worse example of physical abuse, but some of the other characters have still undergone serious mental, inner travails.
Quote #4
ANDREW: […] And my friends, they just laughed and cheered me on. And, afterwards, when I was sittin' in Vernon's office, all I could think about was Larry's father. And Larry havin' to go home and… and explain what happened to him. And the humiliation… f***ing humiliation he must've felt. It must've been unreal… I mean, I mean, how do you apologize for something like that? There's no way… it's all because of me and my old man. Oh, God, I f***ing hate him! He's like this… he's like this mindless machine that I can't even relate to anymore. "Andrew, you've got to be number one! I won't tolerate any losers in this family…. Your intensity is for s***! Win. Win! Win!!" You son of a b****! You know, sometimes, I wish my knee would give…and I wouldn't be able to wrestle anymore. And he could forget all about me.
Andrew's dad has been driving him to compete—maybe because he wants to relive his own athletic glory days through his son's success. But it seems like success is more important to Andrew's dad than Andrew himself is.
Quote #5
ANDREW: My God, are we gonna be like our parents?
CLAIRE: Not me… ever
ALLISON: It's unavoidable; it just happens.
CLAIRE: What happens?
ALLISON: When you grow up, your heart dies.
JOHN: So, who cares?
ALLISON: I care.
Allison doesn't want her heart to die—she wants to remain the sensitive young woman she apparently is. Unlike Claire and Andrew, Allison has no friends and isn't popular—but she's way more accepting of different kinds of people. She has feelings of real empathy. But she sees adults as being totally insensitive, locked up in themselves, and not open to reality. Whether this is a fair judgment or not, it definitely represents a genuine mindset.
Quote #6
ANDREW: Okay, fine... but I didn't dump my purse out on the couch and invite people into my problems... Did I? So what's wrong? What is it? Is it bad? Real bad? Parents?
ALLISON: Yeah... (Andrew nods.)
ANDREW: What do they do to you?
ALLISON: They ignore me...
Allison's parents ignore her. So, they're not abusing her like Bender's dad, or forcing her to compete against her will like Andrew's dad, or using her as a tool against each other like Claire's parents, or forcing her to get good grades like Brian's parents. They're just not paying any attention at all. So, this is part of why Allison seems so isolated and lonely—she's cut herself off from the world because she hasn't received the parental love she desires.
Quote #7
BENDER: I bet he bought those for you! I bet those are a Christmas gift! Right? You know what I got for Christmas this year? It was a banner f***in' year at the old Bender family! I got a carton of cigarettes. The old man grabbed me and said "Hey! Smoke up Johnny!" Okay, so go home and cry to your daddy, don't cry here, okay?
Claire's parents gave her super-expensive diamond earrings, whereas Bender's dad gave him a carton of cigarettes—which is, admittedly, not an inexpensive gift in the present day, even if it's a toxic and parentally irresponsible one. Hughes wants to show how Bender's parents are warped and abusive—but maybe a better example of this would've been for Bender to get nothing for Christmas?
Quote #8
BENDER: Remember how you said your parents use you to get back at each other? Wouldn't I be outstanding in that capacity?
If Claire dates Bender, she's going with the archetypal "bad boy." Naturally, this is a great way for her to tick off her parents. They've been using her to get back at each other—but this allows her to get back at both of them, and throw a wrench into the whole machinery of how they relate to each other.