How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Rear Window.
Quote #1
JEFF: Next Wednesday, I emerge from this plaster cocoon.
Jeff is going a little nuts in his apartment, and the cast on his leg is the perfect indication of just how vexed he is by the situation. That restlessness is his motivation to start looking out the window, which is what sets the plot in motion.
Quote #2
JEFF: Stop sounding stuffy. I'll take pictures from a Jeep. From a water buffalo, if necessary.
GUNNISON: You're too valuable to the magazine for us to play around with. I'll send Morgan or Lambert.
JEFF: Morgan or Lambert, that's fine. I get myself half-killed for you, and you reward me by stealing my assignments.
GUNNISON: I didn't ask you to stand in the middle of that automobile race track.
JEFF: You asked for something dramatically different! You got it!
GUNNISON: So did you. Goodbye, Jeff.
This exchange clues us in to what a risk-taker Jeff has been. Jeff is so bored that he's still willing to take some risks to get back into the action. Spying on the neighbors seems like a harmless activity to him, but it ends up being way more dangerous than he counted on.
Quote #3
JEFF: If you don't pull me out of this swamp of boredom, I'm going to do something drastic.
GUNNISON: Like what?
JEFF: Like what? I'm going to get married. Then I'll never be able to go anywhere.
This is an interesting combination of Jeff's overwhelming irritation at being stuck and his disdain for getting married. It pretty much sounds like he considers the one indistinguishable from the other. They're both traps.