-Meredith Grey
"No matter how thick skinned we try to be, there's millions of electrifying nerve endings in there opened and exposed and feeling way too much. Try as we might to keep from feeling pain, sometimes it's just unavoidable. Sometimes that's the only thing left."
-Meredith Grey
"You never know the biggest day of your life is the biggest day. Not until it's happening. You don't recognize the biggest day of your life, not until you're right in the middle of it. The day you commit to something or someone. The day you get your heart broken. The day you meet your soul mate. The day you realize there's not enough time, because you wanna live forever. Those are the biggest days. The perfect days."
-Isobel "Izzie" Stevens
"Change, we don't like it, we fear it, but we can't stop it from coming. We either adapt to change or we get left behind. And it hurts to grow, anybody who tells you it doesn't is lying. But here's the truth: the more things change, the more they stay the same. And sometimes change is good. Oh, sometimes change is . . . everything."
-Meredith Grey
"If there's just one piece of advice I can give you, it's this--when there's something you really want, fight for it, don't give up no matter how hopeless it seems. And when you've lost hope, ask yourself in 10 years from now, you're gonna wish you gave it just one more shot because the best things in life, they don't come free."
-Meredith Grey
"You know as well as I do it's not about what you look like, or your job, or how successful you are. It's about having people in your life that you love and who love you . . . that's all that matters."
-Miranda Bailey
"I'm still mad at you, and I don't know if I trust you. I wanna trust you, but I don't know if I do, so I'm just gonna try, I'm gonna try and trust you because I believe we can be extraordinary together rather than ordinary apart."
-Meredith Grey
"We don't get unlimited chances to have the things that we want, and this I know. Nothing is worse than missing an opportunity that could have changed your life."
-Addison Montgomery-Shepherd
"The expected is what keeps us steady. It's the unexpected that changes our lives forever."
-Meredith Grey
"Friends are the family we choose."
-Meredith Grey
"You know how when you were a little kid and you believed in fairy tales, that fantasy of what your life would be: white dress, prince charming who would carry you away to a castle on a hill. You would lie in bed at night and close your eyes and you had complete and utter faith. Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, Prince Charming, they were so close you could taste them, but eventually you grow up, one day you open your eyes, and the fairy tale disappears. Most people turn to the things and people they can trust. But the thing is it's hard to let go of that fairy tale entirely cause almost everyone has the smallest bit of hope, or faith, that one day they'll open their eyes and it will come true."
-Meredith Grey
"We all get at least one wish a year over the candles on our birthday. Some of us throw in more--on eyelashes, fountains, lucky stars, and every now and then, one of those wishes come true. So what then? Is it as good as we'd hoped? Do we bask in the warm glow of our happiness? Or, do we just notice we've got a long list of other wishes waiting to be wished? We don't wish for the easy stuff. We wish for big things. Things that are ambitious, out of reach. We wish because we need help and we're scared and we know we may be asking too much. We still wish; though, because sometimes they come true."
-Meredith Grey
"An increased heart rate is a sign of trouble. A racing heart could indicate anything from a panic disorder to something much more serious. A heart that flutters or one that skips a beat could be the sign of a secret affliction or it could indicate romance which is the biggest trouble of all."
-Meredith Grey
"I feel like I'm moving in slow motion and everything around me is moving so fast . . . and I just want to go back to when things were normal."
-Izzie Stevens
"I get to make my own decisions. Have my own life. Do whatever I choose. And here's the good part, so listen close. What I choose is you. You're who I want to wake up with, and got to bed with, and do everything in between with."
-Denny Duquette
"There are days that make the sacrifices seem worthwhile. And then there are the days where everything feels like a sacrifice. And then there are the sacrifices that you can't even figure out why you're making."
-Meredith Grey
"You're right, I should run. But I'd rather be running towards someone than running away."
-Meredith Grey
"Bones break. Organs burst. Flesh tears. We can sew the flesh, repair the damage, ease the pain. But when life breaks down, when we break down, there's no science, no hard and fast rules. We just have to feel our way through."
-Meredith Grey
"Pain comes in all forms. The small twinge, a bit of soreness, the random pain. The normal pains we live with everyday. Then there's the kind of pain you can't ignore. A level of pain so great that it blocks out everything else . . . makes the rest of the world fade away, until all we can think about is how much we hurt. How we manage our pain is up to us. Pain. We anesthetize, ride it out, embrace it, ignore it, and for some of us the best way to manage pain is just to push through it. Pain. You just have to ride it out, hope that is goes away on its own. Hope the wound that caused it heals. There are no solutions, no easy answers. You just breathe deep and wait for it to subside. Most of the time pain can be managed, but sometimes the pain gets you when you least expect it, hits way below the belt and doesn't let up. Pain. You just have to fight through, because the truth is you can't out run it. And life always makes more."
-Meredith Grey
"At any given moment, the brain has 14 billion neurons firing at a speed of 450 miles per hour. We don't have control over most of them. When we get a chill, goosebumps. When we get excited, adrenaline. The body naturally follows its impulses, which, I think, is part of what makes it so hard for us to control ours. Of course, sometimes we have impulses we would rather not control that we later wish we had."
-Meredith Grey
"The ties that bind us are sometimes impossible to explain. They connect us, even after it seems like the ties should be broken. Some bonds defy distance. And time. And logic. Because some ties are simply meant to be."
-Meredith Grey
"Grief may be a thing we all have in common , but it looks different on everyone. It isn't just death we have to grieve. It's life. It's loss. It's change. And when we wonder why it has to suck so much sometimes, has to hurt so bad. The thing we gotta try to remember is that it can turn on a dime. That's how you stay alive. When it hurts so much you can't breathe, that's how you survive. By remembering that one day, somehow, impossibly you won't feel this way. It won't hurt this much. Grief comes in its own time for everyone in its own way. So the best we can do, the best anyone can do, is try for honesty. The really crappy thing, the very worst part of grief is that you can't control it. The best we can do is try to let ourselves feel it when it comes. And let it go when we can. The very worst part is that the minute you think you're past it, it starts all over again. And always, every time, it takes your breath away. There are five stages of grief. They look difference on all of us, but there are always five. Denial. Anger. Bargaining. Depression. Acceptance."
-Arizona, Callie, Mark, Derek, Meredith, Cristina, Owen, Bailey, Webber, Izzie, Lexie & Alex
"At the end of the day, when it comes down to it, all we really want is to be close to somebody. So this thing where we all keep our distance and pretend not to care about each other, it's usually a load of bull."
-Meredith Grey
"I want you to keep doing what you love . . . you have a fantastic future ahead of you. But you've gotta step up and start taking care of yourself. You've gotta take your meds, you've gotta eat. You've gotta pace yourself."
-Alex Karev
"We're all susceptible to it, the dread and anxiety of not knowing what's coming. It's pointless in the end because all the worrying and the making plans for things that could or could not happen, it only makes things worse. So walk your dog or take a nap. Just whatever you do, stop worrying. Because the only cure to paranoia is to be here, just as you are."
-Meredith Grey
"Do you ever feel like you're disappearing?"
-Meredith Grey
"If something that we didn't know we had disappears, do we miss it?"
-Meredith Grey
"I'm just gonna keep my eyes closed because this is like that moment in the morning when you first wake up and you're still half asleep. And everything seems . . . Things are possible. Dreams feel true. And for that one moment between waking and sleeping . . . anything can be real. And then you open your eyes and the sun hits you and you realize . . . I'm just gonna keep my eyes closed."
-Izzie Stevens
"A couple hundred years ago, Benjamin Franklin shared with the world the secret of his success. 'Never leave that till tomorrow,' he said, 'which you can do today.' This is the man who discovered electricity. You'd think more of us would listen to what he had to say. I don't know why we put things off, but if I had to guess, I'd say it has a lot to do with fear. Fear of failure, fear of pain, fear of rejection. Sometimes, the fear is just of making a decision. Because, what if you're wrong? What if you're making a mistake you can't undo?"
-Meredith Grey
"Real breakthroughs come because one is scared to death to stop trying."
-Derek Shepherd
"Communication. It's the first thing we really learn in life. Funny thing is, once we grow up, learn our words and really start talking the harder it becomes to know what to say or how to ask for what we really need."
-Meredith Grey
"For a kiss to be really good, you want it to mean something. You want it to be with someone you can't get out of your head, so that when your lips finally touch you feel it everywhere. A kiss so hot and so deep you never want to come up for air."
-Alex Karev
"Yes or no. In or out. Up or down. Live or die. Hero or coward. Fight or give in. I'll say it again to make sure you hear me. The human life is made up of choices. Live or die. That's the important choice. And it's not always in our hands."
-Derek Shepherd
"Ask most people what they want out of life and the answer is simple--to be happy. Maybe it's this explanation though of wanting to be happy that just keeps us from ever getting there. Maybe the more we try to will ourselves to states of bliss, the more confused we get--to the point where we don't recognize ourselves. Instead we just keep smiling--trying to be the happy people we wish we were. Until it hits us, it's been there all along. Not in our dreams or our hopes, but in the known, the comfortable, the familiar."
-Meredith Grey
"Sometimes the past is something you just can't let go of. And sometimes the past is something we'll do anything to forget. And sometimes we learn something new about the past that changes everything we know about the present."
-Meredith Grey
"We spend our whole lives worrying about the future, planning for the future, trying to predict the future, as if figuring it out will cushion the blow. But the future is always changing. The future is the home of our deepest fears and wildest hopes. But one thing is certain, when it finally reveals itself, the future is never the way we imagined it."
-Meredith Grey
"Time flies. Time waits for no man. Time heals all wounds. All any of us want is more time. Time to stand up. Time to grow up. Time to let go. Time."
-Meredith Grey
"After careful consideration and many sleepless nights, here's what I've decided. We move on, we move out, we move away from our families and form our own. But the basic insecurities, the basic fears, and all those old wounds just frow up with us. We get bigger, we get taller, we get older. But, for the most part, we're still a bunch of kids running around the playground, trying desperately to fit in."
-Meredith Grey
"At the end of the day, there are some things you just can't help but talk about. Somethings we just don't want to hear, and some things we say because we can't be silent any longer. Some things are more important than what you say, they're what you do. Somethings you say cause there's no other choice. Some things you keep to yourself. And not too often, somethings simply speak for themselves."
-Meredith Grey
"Knowing is better than wondering, waking is better than sleeping, and even the biggest failure, even the worst, beats the hell out of never trying."
-Meredith Grey
"Maybe we accept the dream has become a nightmare. We tell ourselves that reality is better. We convince ourselves it's better than we never dream at all. But, the strongest of us, the most determined of us, holds onto that dream or we find ourselves faced with a fresh dream we never considered. We wake to find ourselves, against all odds, feeling hopeful. And, if we're lucky, we realize in the face of everything, in the face of life, the true dream is being able to dream at all."
-Meredith Grey
"I make no apologies for how I chose to repair what you broke."
-Meredith Grey
"There comes a moment when it's more than just a game, and you either take that step forward or turn around and walk away."
-Meredith Grey
"Maybe we like the pain. Maybe we're wired that way. Because without it, I don't know, maybe we just wouldn't feel real. What's that saying? Why do I keep hitting myself with a hammer? Because it feels so good when I stop."
-Meredith Grey
"We put things to rest only to have them rise up again. So if death is not the end, what can you count on anymore? Because you sure can't count on anything in life. Life is the most fragile, unstable, unpredictable thing there is. In fact, there's only one thing about life we can be sure of. It ain't over till it's over."
-Meredith Grey
"Some wars are never over. Some end in an uneasy truce. Some wars result in complete and total victory. Some wars end with a peace offering. And some wars end in hope. But all these wars are nothing compared to the most frightening war of all. The one you have yet to fight."
-Meredith Grey
"There's something to be said about the glass half full. About knowing when to say when. I think it's a floating line, a barometer of need and desire. It's entirely up to the individual and depends on what's being poured. Sometimes all we want is a taste. Other times there's no such thing as enough. The glass is bottomless and all we want is more."
-Meredith Grey
"We all think we're going to be great. And we feel a little bit robbed when our expectations aren't met. But sometimes our expectations sell us short. Sometimes the expectation simply pales in comparison to the unexpected. You gotta wonder why we cling to our expectations. Because the expected is just what keeps us steady standing still. The expected's just the beginning. The unexpected is what changes our lives."
-Meredith Grey
"No one believes their life will turn out just kind of okay. We all think we're going to be great. We are filled with expectations. Expectations of the trails we will blaze, the people we will help, the difference we will make. Great expectations of who we will be. Where we will go. And then we get there. . . "
-Meredith Grey
"What's worse? New wounds which are so horribly painful or old wounds that should have healed years ago and never did. Maybe our old wounds teach us something. They remind us of where we've been and what we've overcome. They teach us lessons about what to avoid in the future. That's what we like to think. But that's not the way it is, is it? Somethings we just have to learn over and over and over again."
-Meredith Grey
"People have scars in all sorts of unexpected places like secret roadmaps of their personal histories, diagrams of all their old wounds. Most of our old wounds heal leaving nothing behind but a scar. Some of them don't. Some wounds we carry everywhere, and though the cut's long gone the pain still lingers."
-Meredith Grey
"Even with the best plans complications can arise. Things can go wrong." -Meredith Grey
"The early bird catches the worm. A stitch in time saves nine. He who hesitates is lost. We can't pretend we haven't been told. We've all heard the proverbs, heard the philosophers, heard our grandparents warning us about wasted time, heard the damn poets urging us to seize the day. Still, sometimes, we have to see for ourselves. We have to make our own mistakes. We have to learn our own lessons. We have to sweep today's possibility under tomorrow's rug until we can't anymore, until we finally understand for ourselves what Benjamin Franklin meant. That knowing is better than wondering. That waking is better than sleeping. And that even the biggest failure, even the worst, most intractable mistake beats the hell out of never trying."
-Meredith Grey
"Okay anyone who says you can sleep when you are dead. Tell them to come talk to me." -Meredith Grey
"Intimacy is a four syllable word for, 'Here's my heart and soul, please grind them into hamburger and enjoy.' It's both desired and feared. Difficult to live with, and impossible to live without. Intimacy also comes attached to the three R's. . . relatives, romances, and roommates. There are some things you can't escape. And other things you just don't want to know. I wish there were a rulebook for intimacy. Some kind of guide to tell you when you've crossed the line. It would be nice if you could see it coming, and I don't know how you fit it on a map. You take it where you can get it, and keep it as long as you can. And as for rules, maybe there are none. Maybe the rules of intimacy are something you have to define for yourself."
-Meredith Grey
"Okay, here is is, your choice. . . it's simple, her or me, and I'm sure she is really great. But Derek, I love you, in a really big pretend to like your taste in music, let you eat the last piece of cheesecake, hold a radio over my head outside your window, unfortunate way that makes me hate you, love you. So pick me, choose me, love me."
-Meredith Grey
"Whatever it is we're afraid of, one thing holds true. That, by the time the pain of not doing a thing gets worse than the fear of not doing it, it can feel like we're carrying around a giant tumor."
-Meredith Grey
"No matter how many plans we make or steps we follow we never know how our day is going to end up. We'd prefer to know, of course, what curve balls will be thrown our way. It's the accidents that always turn out to be the most interesting parts of our day. Of life. The people we never expected to show up. The turn of events we never would've chosen for ourselves. All of a sudden, you find yourself somewhere you never expected to be. And it's nice or it takes some getting used to. Still, you know you'll find yourself appreciating it somewhere down the line. So you go to sleep each night thinking about tomorrow. Going over your plans, preparing the lists, and hoping that whatever accidents come your way will be happy ones."
-Meredith Grey
"We push ourselves. It doesn't matter how much we achieve. If you're a climber, there's always another mountain. They take pictures of mountain climbers at the top of the mountain. They're smiling, ecstatic, triumphant. They don't take pictures along the way. 'Cause who wants to remember the rest of it? We push ourselves because we have to. Not because we like it. The relentless climb, the pain and anguish of taking it to the next level, nobody takes pictures of that. Nobody wants to remember. We just wanna remember the view from the top. The breathtaking moment at the edge of the world. That's what keeps us climbing. And it's worth the pain. That's the crazy part. It's worth anything."
-Meredith Grey
"There are times when even the best of us have trouble with commitment, and we may be surprised at the commitments we're willing to let slip out of our grasp. Commitments are complicated. We may surprise ourselves by the commitments we're willing to make, true commitment takes effort and sacrifice, which is why sometimes we have to learn the hard way to choose our commitments very carefully."
"Pain is there to tell us something."
"Gratitude. Appreciation. Giving thanks. No matter what words you use, it all means the same thing: happy. We're supposed to be happy, grateful for friends, family. Happy to just be alive. Whether we like it or not."
"Maybe Romeo and Juliet were fated to be together, but just for a while. I believe that for the most part, love is about choices. It's about putting down the poison and the dagger and making your own happy ending... most of the time. And sometimes, despite all your best intentions, fate wins anyway."
-Meredith Grey
"The hot ones are always mean. It's like a rule or something."
"So what makes anger different from the six other deadly sins? It's pretty simple really, you give into a sin like envy or pride and you only hurt yourself. Try lust or coveting and you'll only hurt yourself and one or two others. But anger, anger is the worst... the mother of all sins... Not only can anger drive you over the edge, when it does you take an awful lot of people with you."
-Meredith Grey
"We all go through life like bulls in a china shop--a chip here, a crack there, doing damage to ourselves and to other people. The problem is trying to figure out how to control the damage we've done or that's been done to us. Sometimes the damage catches us by surprise, sometimes we think we can fix the damage, and sometimes the damage is something we can't even see. We're all damaged it seems, some of us more than others. We carry the damage with us from childhood, then, as grownups, we give as good as we get. Ultimately, we all do damage and then, we set about the business of fixing what we can."
-Meredith Grey
"Superstition lies in the space between what we can control. Find a penny pick it up, and all day long you'll have good luck. No one wants to pass up a chance for good luck. But does saying it thirty three times really help? Is anyone really listening? And if no one's listening, why do we bother doing those strange things. We rely on superstitions because we're smart enough to know we don't have all the answers. And that life works in mysterious ways. Don't diss the juju, from wherever it comes."
-Meredith Grey
"How much can you actually accomplish in an hour? Run an errand maybe, sit in traffic, get an oil change. When you think about it an hour isn't very long. Sixty minutes. Thirty six hundred seconds. That's it. An hour, one hour, can change everything forever. An hour can save your life. An hour can change your life. Sometimes an hour is a gift we give ourselves. For some, an hour can mean almost nothing. For others, an hour makes all the difference in the world. But in the end, it's still just an hour. One of my more to come. Sixty minutes. Thirty six hundred seconds. That's it. Then it starts all over again. And who knows what the next hour might hold."
-Meredith Grey
"We have to keep reinventing ourselves almost every minute because the world can change in an instant and there's no time for looking back. Sometimes the changes are forced on us, sometimes they happen by accident, and we make the most of them. We have to constantly come up with new ways to fix ourselves. So we change, we adapt, we create new versions of ourselves. We just need to be sure that this one is an improvement over the last."
"They say the bigger your investment, the bigger your return. But you have to be willing to take a chance. You have to understand you might lost it all. But if you take that chance, if you invest wisely, the payoff might just surprise you."
"When we're headed toward an outcome that's too horrible to face, that's when we go looking for a second opinion. And sometimes, the answer we get just confirms our worst fears. But sometimes, it can shed new light on the problem, make you see it in a whole new way. After all the opinions have been heard and every point of view has been considered, you finally find what you're after--the truth. But the truth isn't where it ends, that's just where you begin with a whole new set of questions."
"We begin life with few obligations. We pledge allegiance to the flag. We swear to return our library books. But as we get older, we take vows, make promises, and get burdened by commitments to do no harm, to tell the truth and nothing but to love, to cherish, till death do us part. So we just keep running up the tap till we owe everything to everybody."
"If there's a crisis, you don't freeze, you move forward. You get the rest of us to move forward because you've seen worse, you've survived worse. And you know we'll survive too. You say you're all dark and twisty, it's not a flaw, it's a strength. It makes you who you are."
-Derek Shepherd
"And the only way to get rid of a shadow is to turn off the lights, to stop running from the darkness and face what you fear, head on."
-Meredith Grey
"Sometimes, words fail."
-Owen Hunt
"There are moments that take us to another place, moments of heaven on earth."
-Denny Duquette
"As human beings we can always try to do better, to be better, to re-right a wrong even if it still feels irreversible. Of course, 'I'm sorry' doesn't alway cut it. Maybe because we use it so many different ways: as a weapon, as an excuse. But when we are really sorry, when we use it right, when we mean it. When actions say what words never can. When we get it right, 'I'm sorry' is perfect. When we get it right, 'I'm sorry' is redemption."
-Meredith Grey
"Yes. Horrible things DO happen. Happiness in the face of all that? That's not the goal. Feeling the horrible and knowing that you're not gonna die from these feelings... that's the point."
"Today is the day my life begins. All my life I've been just me, just a smart-mouthed kid. Today I become a man. Today I become a husband. Today I become accountable to someone other than myself. Today I become accountable to you, to our future, to all the possibilities our marriage has to offer. Together no matter what happens, I'll be ready for anything. For everything. To take on life. To take on love. To take on the possibility and responsibility. Today, our life begins. And I for one, can't wait."
-Alex Karev
"We all remember the bedtime stories of our childhood. The shoe fit Cinderella, the frog turned into a prince, Sleeping Beauty was awakened with a kiss. Once upon a time and then they lived happily ever after. Fairytales. The stuff of dreams. The problem is fairytales don't come true. It's the other stories, the ones that start in dark and stormy nights and end in the unspeakable. The nightmares always seem to become the reality."
-Meredith Grey
"Once upon a time, happily ever after. The stories we tell are the stuff of dreams. Fairytales don't come true. Reality is much stormier. Much murkier. Much scarier."
-Meredith Grey
"We like to think we're fearless, eager to explore unknown lands and soak up new experiences, but the fact is we're always terrified. Maybe the terror is part of the attraction. Some people go to horror movies. We cut things open. Dive into dark water. At the end of the day, isn't that what you'd rather hear about? Slow rides make for boring stories. A little calamity. Now that's worth talking about."
-Meredith Grey
"You can't blame yourself. Some people are just broken. I guess you just try not to care too much and you can't be disappointed."
"The thing about choosing teams in real life... It's nothing like it used to be in gym class... being first picked can be terrifying and being chosen last... isn't the worst thing in the world. So we watch from the sidelines... clinging to our isolation... because we know as soon as we let go of the bench, someone comes along and changes the game completely."
"So chin up. Put your shoulders back, walk proud, strut a little. Don't lick your wounds. Celebrate them. The scars you bear are the signs of a competitor. You're in a lion fight. Just because you didn't win doesn't mean you don't know how to roar."
"Some days, the whole world seems upside down. And then somehow, and probably when you least expect it, the world rights itself again."
"People are constantly asking you to tell them how you're doing. How the hell are you supposed to know?"
"Have some fire. Be unstoppable. Be a force of nature. Be better than anyone here and don't give a damn what anyone thinks. There are no teams here, no buddies. You're on your own. Be on your own."
"There's a little animal in all of us and maybe that's something to celebrate. Our animal instinct is what makes us seek comfort, warmth, a pack to run with. We may feel caged, we may feel trapped, but still, as humans we can find ways to feel free. We are each others keepers. We are the guardians of our own humanity and even though there's a beast inside all of us, what sets us apart from the animals is that we can think, feel, dream and love. And against all odds, against all instinct, we evolve."
"There comes a point in your life when you're officially an adult. Suddenly, people expect you to be responsible, serious... a grown up. We get taller, we get older. But do we ever really grow up?"
-Meredith Grey
"It goes away. The feeling. That feeling that you have right now today. That feeling like you can do anything. That clarity. It goes away. And you go right back to being the coward who can't tell the person you love how you feel."
-Meredith Grey
"You didn't love her! You just didn't want to be alone. Or maybe she was good for your ego, or maybe she made you feel better about your miserable life, but you didn't love her, because you don't destroy the person you love."
-Calliope "Callie" Torres
"People are stupid and just want to be loved. That's the only reason anyone does anything."
-Miranda Bailey
"Deep down, everyone wants to believe they can be hardcore. But being hardcore isn't just about being tough--it's about acceptance. Sometimes you have to give yourself permission to not be hardcore for once. You don't have to be tough every minute of every day. It's okay to let down your guard. In fact, there are moments when it's the best thing you can possibly do--as long as you choose your moments wisely."
"The thing about addiction is it never ends well because eventually, whatever it was getting us high stops feeling good and starts to hurt. Still, they say you don't kick the habit until you hit rock bottom, but how do you know when you're there? Because no matter how badly a thing is hurting us, sometimes letting it go hurts even worse."
-Meredith Grey
"The truth is hard. The truth is awkward and very often, the truth hurts. I mean people think they want the truth. But do they really?"
-Meredith Grey
"Forgive and forget. That's what they say. It's good advice, but it's not very practical. When someone hurts us, we want to hurt them back. When someone wrongs us, we want to be right. Without forgiveness, old scores never settle. Old wounds never heal and the most we can hope for is that someday we'll be lucky enough to forget."
-Meredith Grey
"You knew what you wanted. You stuck to your guns. You proved that if you want something bad enough, if you're determined enough, if you're patient enough, eventually it will happen and that gives me hope. So thanks for that."
"The truth is painful. Deep down nobody wants to hear it, especially when it hits close to home. Sometimes we tell the truth because the truth is all we have to give. Sometimes we tell the truth because we need to say it out loud to hear it for ourselves. And sometimes we tell the truth because we just can't help ourselves. Sometimes, we tell them because we owe them at least that much."
-Meredith Grey
"In some ways we grow up. We have families, we get married, divorced, but for the most part, we still have the same problems that we did when we were fifteen. No matter how much we grow taller, grow older, we are still forever stumbling, forever wondering, forever young."
-Meredith Grey
"I could promise to hold you and to cherish you. I could promise to be there, in sickness and in health. I could say till death do us part. But I won't. Those vows are for optimistic couples, the ones full of hope. I do not stand here on my wedding day optimistic or full of hope. I am not optimistic. I am not hopeful. I am sure. I am steady. I am a heart man. Take 'em apart, put 'em back together, hold them in my hands. I am a heart man. So this, I am sure. You are my partner. My lover. My very best friend. My heart, MY HEART, beats for you. And on this day, the day of our wedding, I promise you this. I promise you to lay my heart in the palm of your hands. I promise you me."
-Preston Burke
"Do you know what kind of miracle it is that Derek is who he is? Do you know how rare it is that someone like him even exists? He's still an optimist! He still believes in true love and magic and soul mates. He's waiting for you. And if you don't come back from this, you will change who he is."
-Denny Duquette
"I know people die. People die in front of us everyday, but I believe Meredith will survive this. I believe, I believe, I... I believe in the good. I believe that it's been a hell of a year, and I believe that in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, we will all be okay. I believe that Denny is always with me. And I believe that if I eat a tub of butter and no one sees me, the calories don't count. I believe we survive."
-Isobel "Izzie" Stevens
"At the end of a day like this when so many prayers are answered and so may aren't, we take our miracles where we find them. We reach across the gap and sometimes against all odds, against all logic, we touch... against all odds it happens."
"People have scars in all sorts of unexpected places. Like secret roadmaps of their personal histories. Diagrams of all their old wounds. Most of our wounds heal, leaving nothing behind but a scar. But some of them don't. Some wounds we carry with us everywhere and though the cut's long gone, the pain still lingers."
-Meredith Grey
"She's tough. She tries to hide it. She's difficult. But if you make an effort, she's worth it. She's worth the effort."
-Derek Shepherd
"Many people don't know that the human eye has a blind spot in it's field of vision--that there's a part of the world we are literally blind to. The problem is sometimes our blind spots shield us from things that shouldn't be ignored. Sometimes our blind spots keep our lives bright and shiny. When it comes to our blind spots--maybe our brains aren't compensating, maybe they're protecting us."
-Meredith Grey
"In some ways, betrayal is inevitable. When our bodies betray us, surgery is often the key to recovery. When we betray each other, the path to recovery is less clear. We do whatever it takes to rebuild the trust that was lost. And then there are some wounds, some betrayals that are so deep, so profound, that there is no way to repair what was lost. And when that happens, there's nothing left to do but wait."
-Cristina Yang
"When the worst case scenario comes true, clinging to hope is all we've got left."
"Everyone needs help from time to time. Someone to look out for them to make sure they're okay, to make sure they're ready."
"It turns out sometimes you have to do the wrong thing. Sometimes you have to make a big mistake to figure out how to make things right. Mistakes are painful, but they're the only way to find out who we really are."
-Denny Duquette
"It comes in waves. There's a lull and then another wave hits you. I just wanted you to know that it's okay not to be fine sometimes."
"Most wounds run deeper than we can imagine. You can't see them with the naked eye. And then there are the wounds that take us by surprise. The truth with any kind of wound or disease is to dig down and find the real source of the injury... and once you've found it--try like hell to heal the sucker."
-Meredith Grey
"No matter how high the stakes, sooner or later you're just gonna have to go with your gut. And maybe, just maybe, that'll take you right where you were supposed to be."
-Meredith Grey
"People are really romantic at the beginning of things. Fresh start. Clean slate. A world of possibility. But no matter what adventure you're embarking on, you're still you. You bring you into every new beginning in your life, so how different can it possibly be."
-Meredith Grey
"We are all looking for answers. In medicine, in life, in everything. Sometimes the answers we were looking for were hiding just below the surface. Other times, we find answers when we didn't realize we were asking a question. Sometimes, the answers can catch us completely by surprise. And sometimes, even when we find the answer we've been looking for, we're still left with a whole helluva lot of questions."
-Meredith Grey
"Biology says that we are who we are from birth. That our DNA is set in stone. Unchangeable. Our DNA doesn't account for all of us though, we're human. Life changes us. We develop new traits. Become less territorial. We start competing. We learn from our mistakes. We face our greatest fears. For better or worse, we find ways to become more than our biology. The risk, of course, is that we can change too much to the point where we don't recognize ourselves. Finding our way back can be difficult. There's no compass, no map. We just have to close our eyes, take a step, and hope to God we get there."
-Meredith Grey
"Biology determines much of the way we live. From the moment we're born we know how to breathe and eat. As we grow older, new instincts kick in. We become territorial. We learn to compete. We seek shelter. Most important of all, we reproduce. Sometimes biology can turn on us though. Yeah, biology sucks sometimes."
-Meredith Grey
"Lightning doesn't often strike twice. It's a once in a lifetime thing. Even if it feels like the shock is coming over and over again. Eventually the pain will go away, the shock will wear off. And you start to heal yourself. To recover from something you never saw coming. But, sometimes the odds are in your favor. If you're in just the right place at just the right time you can take a helluva hit. And still have a shot at surviving."
-Meredith Grey
"Every cell in the human body regenerates on average every seven years. Like snakes, in our own way, we shed our skin. Biologically we are brand new people. We may look the same, we probably do, the change isn't visible at least in most of us, but we are completely changed forever."
-Meredith Grey
"Remember when we were little and we would accidentally bite a kid on the playground. Our teachers would go, 'Say you're sorry,' and we would say it, but we wouldn't mean it cause the stupid kid we bit, totally deserved it. But as we get older, making amends isn't so simple. After the playground days are over, you can't just say it, you have to mean it."
-Meredith Grey
"But even when our hopes give way to reality, and we finally have to surrender to the truth, it just means we've lost today's battle and not tomorrow's war. Here's the thing about surrender, once you do it, actually give in, you forget why you were fighting in the first place."
-Meredith Grey
"You're just a kid, you won't understand. But one day, you're gonna wake up, and all the big stuff, all the milestones you've been looking forward to--graduation, wedding, having kids, your grandkids--it's all behind you. It's all over. All you got is a bunch of yesterdays, and very few tomorrows."
"When we're dying or have suffered a catastrophic loss, we all move through five distinct stages of grief. We go into denial because the loss is so unthinkable we can't imagine it's true. We become angry with everyone, angry with survivors, angry with ourselves. Then we bargain. We beg. We plead. We offer everything we have, we offer our souls in exchange for just one more day. When the bargaining has failed and the anger is too hard to maintain, we fall into depression, despair, until finally we have to accept that we've done everything we can. We let go. We let go and move into acceptance."
"They are my people. People keep you going. People are better than... no people."
"It seems we have no control whatsoever over our own hearts. Conditions can change without warning. Romance can make the heart pound just like panic can. And panic can make it stop cold in your chest. It's no wonder doctors spend so much time to keep the heart stable, to keep it slow, steady, regular to stop the heart from pounding out of your chest from the dread of something terrible or the anticipation of something else entirely."
-Meredith Grey
"The odds are that the... the odds mean crap. So people should face it, and they should fight."
-Lexie Grey
"Doesn't matter how tough we are, trauma always leaves a scar. It follows us home, it changes our lives. Trauma messes everybody up, but maybe that's the point. All the pain and the fear and the crap. Maybe going through all of that is what keeps us moving forward. It's what pushes us. Maybe we have to get a little messed up before we can step up."
-Alex Karev
"We enter the world alone and we leave it alone. And everything that happens in between, we owe it to ourselves to find a little company. We need help. We need support. Otherwise we're in it by ourselves. Strangers cut off from each other and we forget just how connected we are. So instead we choose love. We choose life and for a moment we feel just a little bit less alone."
-Meredith Grey
"Sometimes reality has a way of sneaking up and biting us in the ass. And when the dam bursts, all you can do is swim. The world of pretend is a cage, not a cocoon. We can only lie to ourselves for so long. We are tired, we are scared, denying it doesn't change the truth. Sooner or later we have to put aside our denial and face the world. Head on, guns blazing. Denial. It's not just a river in Egypt, it's a freakin' ocean. So how do you keep from drowning in it?"
-Meredith Grey
"In general people can be categorized in one of two ways: Those who love surprises, and those who don't. I don't. My point is this: whoever said 'What you don't know can't hurt you' was a complete and total moron. Because for most people I know, not knowing is the worst feeling in the world. Okay, fine, maybe it's the second worst."
-Meredith Grey
"Even now, for the most part, I believe love is about choices. It's about putting down the poison and the dagger and making your own happy ending most of the time. And that sometimes, despite all your best choices and all your best intentions, fate wins anyway."
-Meredith Grey
"You don't get it. You have a life. You go to sleep, you wake up and that life doesn't exist anymore? Everyone's moved on except you. It's not an easy thing."
-Meredith Grey
"I feel like one of those people who's so freaking miserable they can't be around normal people. Like I'll infect the happy people."
-Meredith Grey
"Did you say it? 'I love you. I don't ever want to live without you. You changed my life.' Did you say it? Make a plan. Set a goal. Work toward it, but every now and then, look around; Drink it in 'cause this is it. It might all be gone tomorrow."
-Meredith Grey
