Ellen Pompeo credited as playing...
Dr. Meredith Grey
- Dr. Derek Shepherd: So, who's next, Alex? He likes to sleep around... you two have that in common.
- Dr. Meredith Grey: You don't get to call me a whore! When I met you, I thought I had met the person I would spend then rest of my life with. I was done. So all the boys, and all the bars, and all the obvious daddy issues... who cared? Because I was done. You left me! You chose Addison! I'm all glued back together now. I make no apologies for how I chose to repair what you broke. You don't get to call me a whore!
- Dr. 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.
- Dr. Meredith Grey: After all this time, all your warnings about me sleeping with my boss and you're doing the same exact thing.
- Dr. Cristina Yang: Oh, it's not the same thing.
- Dr. Meredith Grey: It's the exact same!
- Dr. Cristina Yang: No, it's not. You and McDreamy are in a relationship.
- Dr. Meredith Grey: And you and Burke are in?
- Dr. Cristina Yang: Switzerland. It's very neutral there and they make very nice watches.
- Dr. Meredith Grey: At some point, you have to make a decision. Boundaries don't keep other people out. They fence you in. Life is messy. That's how we're made. So, you can waste your lives drawing lines. Or you can live your life crossing them. But there are some lines... that are way too dangerous to cross.
- Dr. Meredith Grey: A couple of 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 think more people 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 have to say it has a lot to do with fear. Fear of failure, 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? The early bird catches the worm. A stitch in time saves nine. He who hesitates is lost. We can't pretend we hadn'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 really meant. That knowing is better than wondering, that waking is better than sleeping, and even the biggest failure, even the worst, beat the hell out of never trying.
- Dr. 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. De Nile. It's not just a river in Egypt, it's a freakin' ocean. So how do you keep from drowning in it?
- Dr. Meredith Grey: Okay, here it 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, 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.
- Dr. Meredith Grey: Did you let me scrub in for this operation because I slept with you?
- Dr. Derek Shepherd: Yes.
- [pause]
- Dr. Derek Shepherd: Just kidding.
- Dr. Cristina Yang: [they all see the Nazi] That's the Nazi?
- Dr. George O'Malley: I thought the Nazi would be a man.
- Dr. Meredith Grey: I thought the Nazi would be... the Nazi.
- Dr. Isobel "Izzie" Stevens: [Izzie walks up behind them] Maybe it's professional jealousy. Maybe she's brilliant and they call her a Nazi because they're jealous. Maybe she's nice.
- Dr. Cristina Yang: Let me guess - you're the model.
- [Izzie gives her an evil look]
- Dr. Isobel "Izzie" Stevens: [to the Nazi] Hi, I'm Isobel Stevens, but everyone just calls me Izzie.
- Dr. Miranda Bailey: I have five rules. Memorize them. Rule number one, don't bother sucking up. I already hate you, that's not gonna change.
- Dr. Meredith Grey: Don't look at me like that.
- Dr. Derek Shepherd: Like what?
- Dr. Meredith Grey: Like you've seen me naked!
- Dr. Meredith Grey: [about her new roommates] They're everywhere. All the time. Izzie's all perky and George does this where he's helpful and considerate. They share food, and they say things, and they move things, and they breathe. Ugh, they're, like, happy
- Dr. Cristina Yang: Kick them out.
- Dr. Meredith Grey: I can't kick them out, they just moved in. I asked them to move in.
- Dr. Cristina Yang: So what, you're just going to repress everything in some deep, dark, twisted place until one day you snap and you kill them?
- Dr. Meredith Grey: I've heard that it's possible to grow up - I've just never met anyone who's actually done it. Without parents to defy, we break the rules we make for ourselves. We throw tantrums when things don't go our way, we whisper secrets with our best friends in the dark, we look for comfort where we can find it, and we hope - against all logic, against all experience. Like children, we never give up hope...
- Dr. Meredith Grey: I can't think of a single reason why I should be a surgeon, but I can think of a thousand reasons why I should quit. They make it hard on purpose... there are lives in our hands. 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. I could quit but here's the thing, I love the playing field.
- Dr. Meredith Grey: At the end of the day faith is a funny thing. It turns up when you don't really expect it. It's like one day you realize that the fairy tale may be slightly different than you dreamed. The castle, well, it may not be a castle. And it's not so important happy ever after, just that its happy right now. See once in a while, once in a blue moon, people will surprise you , and once in a while people may even take your breath away.
- Dr. Meredith Grey: Maybe we're not supposed to be happy. Maybe gratitude has nothing to do with joy. Maybe being grateful means recognizing what you have for what it is. Appreciating small victories. Admiring the struggle it takes to simply be human. Maybe, we're thankful for the familiar things we know. And maybe we're thankful for the things we'll never know. At the end of the day, the fact that we have the courage to still be standing is reason enough to celebrate.
- Dr. Meredith Grey: 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.