“ ………It doesn’t matter how much we achieve if you’re a climber, there’s always another mountain. They take pictures of the mountain climbers at the top of the mountain. They are 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 want to 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.
“ 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.
“ …..in a world of constant progress and forward motion. Stand still for a second, and you’ll be left behind. But as hard as we try to move forward, as tempting as it is to never look back, the past always comes back to bite us in the ass. And as history shows us again and again, those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it…..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.
— GREY’S ANATOMY S06E09 “NEW HISTORY”
“ For me it was the quiet. Peace isn’t a permanent state. It exists in moments. Fleeting. Gone before we knew it was there. We can experience it at any time, in a stranger’s act of kindness, a task that requires complete focus or simply the comfort of an old routine. Everyday we all experience these moments of peace. The trick is to know when they’re happening so that we can embrace them, live in them. And finally let them go.
— GREY’S ANATOMY S06E08 “Give Peace A Chance”
“ 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 again with a whole new set of questions.
— GREY’S ANATOMY S06E06 “I Saw What I Saw”
GREY'S ANATOMY "Goodbye (2)"
Lexie (closing voiceover): Grief may be a thing we all have in common, but it looks different on everyone.
Mark: It isn’t just death we have to grieve. It’s life. It’s loss. It’s change.
Alex: 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.
Izzie: That’s how you stay alive. When it hurts so much you can’t breathe, that’s how you survive.
Derek: By remembering that one day, somehow, impossibly, you won’t feel this way. It won’t hurt this much.
Bailey: Grief comes in its own time for everyone, in its own way.
Owen: So the best we can do, the best anyone can do, is try for honesty.
Meredith: The really crappy thing, the very worst part of grief is that you can’t control it.
Arizona: The best we can do is try to let ourselves feel it when it comes.
Callie: And let it go when we can.
Meredith: The very worst part is that the minute you think you’re past it, it starts all over again.
Cristina: And always, every time, it takes your breath away.
Meredith: There are five stages of grief. They look different on all of us, but there are always five.
Alex: Denial.
Derek: Anger.
Bailey: Bargaining.
Lexie: Depression.
Chief: Acceptance.
“ Doctors spend a lot of time focused on the future, planning it, working toward it. But at some point you start to realize your life is happening now. Not after med school, not after residency, right now. This is it. It’s here. Blink and you’ll miss it.
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.”
— GREY’S ANATOMY S05E24 “Now or Never”
“ When something begins, you generally have no idea how it’s going to end. The house you’re going to sell becomes your home, the roommates you were forced to take in become your family and the one night stand you were determined to forget becomes the love of your life…..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.
— GREY’S ANATOMY S05E23 “Here’s To The Future”
“ To do our jobs we have to believe defeat is not an option. That no matter how sick our patients get, there’s hope for them. 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. Not tomorrows war. Here’s the thing about surrender, once you do it, actually give in, you forget why you were even fighting in the first place.
— GREY’S ANATOMY S05E20 Sweet Surrender
“ Every surgeon I know, has a shadow. A dark cloud of fear and doubt, that follows even the best of us into the OR. We pretend the shadow isn’t there. Hoping that if we save more lives, master harder techniques, run faster and farther, it’ll get tired and give up the chase. But, like they say, you can’t outrun your shadow……And the only way to get rid of a shadow,is to turn off the light. To stop running from the darkness, and face what you fear. Head on.
— GREY’S ANATOMY S05E17 “I Will Follow You Into The Dark”
“ 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 all are. So instead, we choose love, we choose life, and for a moment, we feel just a little bit less alone.
— GREY’S ANATOMY S05E10 “All By Myself”
“ When you’re little, nighttime is scary because there are monsters hiding right under the bed.When you get older, the monsters are different.Self-doubt. Loneliness. Regret. And though you may be older and wiser, you still find yourself scared of the dark.Sleep. It’s the easiest thing to do. You just… close your eyes. But for so many of us, sleep seems out of our grasp.We want it, but we don’t know how to get it.But once we face our demons, face our fears…and turn to each other for help…nighttime isn’t so scary because we realize we aren’t all alone in the dark.
— GREY’S ANATOMY S05E09 “In The Midnight Hour”
“ This isn’t real, is it? I’m just gonna keep my eyes close 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 then you realize that… I’m just gonna keep my eyes closed.
— Izzie Stevens GREY’S ANATOMY ”In The Midnight Hour” S05E09
“ We like to think that we are rational beings; humane, conscientious, civilized, thoughtful. But when things fall apart, even just a little, it becomes clear we are not better than animals. We have opposable thumbs, we think, we walk erect, we speak, we dream, but deep down we are still routing around in the primordial ooze; biting, clawing, scratching out an existence in the cold, dark world like the rest of the tree-toads and sloths….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 other’s 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.
— GREY’S ANATOMY S4E12 ‘Where The Wild Things Are’
“ There comes a point in your life, when you’re officially an adult. Suddenly, you’re old enough to vote, drink and engage in other adult activities. Suddenly, people expect you to be responsible, serious, a grown-up. We get taller, we get older. But do we ever really grow up? 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.
— GREY’S ANATOMY S4E08 ‘Forever Young’
