- Alan Matthews: I don't care who it is. A friend does not rat out a friend.
- Amy Matthews: What are you? In a prison movie? There are consequences!
- Alan Matthews: Oh, what's the worst that Feeny can do?
- Cory Matthews: Well, he's threatening to suspend me.
- Amy Matthews: Oh, great. A big red S on his permanent record.
- Alan Matthews: Oh, nobody looks at that. Who looks at that?
- Amy Matthews: Some colleges that he applies to.
- Alan Matthews: Any college would let you in as long as you have enough money.
- Amy Matthews: Do we have enough money?
- Alan Matthews: No.
- [to Cory, dejectedly]
- Alan Matthews: You have to rat out your friend because we're poor.
- Cory Matthews: How ya both doing?
- Alan Matthews: Better than you.
- Amy Matthews: Mr. Feeny called. He told us he's meeting with you in his office tomorrow. He also said to ask you what it's about.
- Cory Matthews: [sighs] Okay, look. I'm in this sort of a situation and I don't exactly know what to do.
- Amy Matthews: Well, if you want you could talk to us.
- Alan Matthews: Because we're gonna make you.
- Cory Matthews: Alright. I've got this friend who's pulled this major scam at school.
- Amy Matthews: Shawn.
- Cory Matthews: Not Shawn.
- Amy Matthews: Shawn!
- Cory Matthews: Fine, Mom. Think it's Shawn. Because that protects the kid who it really is. Anyway this kid did something...
- Amy Matthews: With the newspaper headline.
- Cory Matthews: Yeah, could be. Now, Mr. Feeny, he knows I didn't do it, but he also thinks he knows I know who did do it.
- Amy Matthews: Shawn.
- Cory Matthews: Not Shawn.
- Amy Matthews: Shawn!
- Alan Matthews: Amy, he says it's not Shawn. I believe him.
- Cory Matthews: Obviously it's Shawn!
- Shawn Hunter: Who are we?
- Cory Matthews: We are lowly seventh-grade sewer scum who name rats after ourselves to feel important
- Shawn Hunter: And how do we feel about that?
- Cory Matthews: Better than the guys with no rats.
- Desiree: [after asking Eric to do something] Say "Yes, puddin'."
- Eric Matthews: [smiles] Yes.
- [Desiree stares expectantly]
- Jason Marsden: I believe the woman wants "puddin'."
- Eric Matthews: Puddin'.
- George Feeny: As Principal of this high school, I'm expected to keep order. Unchecked, these pranks undermine my authority and breed disrespect.
- Cory Matthews: So I guess I get punished for something I didn't do.
- George Feeny: Name the person who did, and you walk out of here scot-free.
- Cory Matthews: I'm sorry. I can't do that.
- Cory Matthews: So how long am I suspended for?
- George Feeny: You're not. Detention for five days. One for each letter in Weeny. Which in this instance, should properly be spelled W-E-E-N-I-E, shouldn't it, Mr. Hunter?
- Shawn Hunter: [to Cory] You told him?
- Cory Matthews: What do you think?
- Shawn Hunter: I think you wouldn't. I'm an idiot.
- George Feeny: He refused to rat you out, Mr. Hunter, and he now faces a week of detention in your honor, but the punishment for not being caught, Mr. Hunter, is far, far worse
- Shawn Hunter: I did it, Mr. Feeny. I confess.
- George Feeny: I will be watching you every day of your high school career, which in your case could be decades.
- Shawn Hunter: But I just confessed!
- George Feeny: Too late, Mr. Hunter! You are my new special friend
- [Mr. Feeny leaves and Shawn turns to Cory]
- Shawn Hunter: Why didn't you turn me in?
- Cory Matthews: [about the rats that he and Shawn named after themselves] Shawn's the one chewing on the lock. I'm the one with the skin disease.
- Amy Matthews: Maybe when you get a little older, you'll realize that stunts and gimmicks are not what make you special.
- [Eric comes in]
- Eric Matthews: I'm dating a senior! I'm special! I am fabulous. I have a tremendous new found sense of self worth. Nothing bad can happen right?
- Amy Matthews, Alan Matthews, Cory Matthews: No. No.
- George Feeny: To be somebody special, is a quality from within, Mr. Matthews. To give you an example, I think it's a very rare quality for you to put a friend's welfare before your own.
- Cory Matthews: But just a second ago, you wanted me to rat on him.
- George Feeny: As the new principal, yes, but as your teacher, as someone who lived next door and watched you grow up, I never expected it for a moment.