John Carter quotes from E.R.

Carter

On my father's side.

Carter

Oh God, I killed Santa.

Carter

You ever put in a foley?

Carter

You're in for a treat.

Carter

[to Harper] Benton is in the foulest mood I have ever seen. And that's saying something.

Carter

[to Benton] All he [Gant] ever got from you was harping and criticism. Now he's dead and you're going to have to face it.

Carter

[to Dr. Anspaugh] I admire surgery, but it's not the type of medicine I want to practice. I can be a competent surgeon. I can learn the techniques, the mechanics, but I'll never be a great surgeon. Dr. Anspaugh, I can be a great doctor, a doctor who spends time with his patients, who's there for them. I'm good at it. Really good. I can make a difference in people's lives. Don't make me give that up. Please don't make me waste it.

Carter

[about the rapist] I wanted him to die. I saw what he did to that old lady and the others before her, and I wanted him to die. I didn't think he should have that blood. I mean, if someone had come in and they really needed it. If some little kid had been hit by a car or some old guy had been accidentally shot. If someone like that had died because we wasted the blood on that guy... I don't know. It was my decision, and I made it, and if he died, I don't know how I'd feel, but I can't say that I'm sorry. [pause] I mean, was I wrong?

Carter

Leonardo DiCaprio, hoop skirts, and tragic love is kinda my idea of hell on earth.

Carter

I lied to Lucy's mother today. I told her that it wasn't painful to have an 8-inch knife shoved into your gut.

Carter

[to Mark] I'm gone for a couple of weeks, you [and Elizabeth] are engaged, Chen's pregnant, Malucci's blonde and I can't seem to remember my locker combination.

Carter

[reading a letter from Mark] Dear ER Gang, So here I am, out on the beach at 5:30 in the evening. Elizabeth is drinking juice, but I'm all about the Mai Tai's. The sun is going down, Rachel is dipping Ella's toes in the ocean as they head off on their quest for the perfect seashell. Weirdly enough, I find myself thinking, you know what would make this moment complete? Some jogger dropping to the sand, short of breath, so I can sweep in with a piece of bamboo to perform a nice, clean intubation, fix the guy up, and send him off with a good, simple dispo. Which I guess is my way of saying I miss you all and that dingy place. Lots of times I thought I should have chosen a different career or gone into private practice, something easier, less grinding, more lucrative, but since I've been gone, I realize that outside of doing what I'm doing right now, sitting on this beach with my family, staying at County all those years, doing what we do on a daily basis was the best choice I ever made. I know what you're thinking, but trust me, it's not hard to appreciate once it's over. As much as a part of me would like to believe that the ER can't go on without me, the smarter part realizes that you are an incredible group of doctors and nurses who approach every day with such skill, compassion and thoroughness, that when it comes to patient care, I know my absence will hardly be felt. In order to leave, I had to go the way I did, but I wouldn't want any of you to think that I didn't value each of you and the years we worked together, or that I didn't have things of a more personal nature to say. Most of you, I think, have an idea of what those things might be without me writing them down, but still... Ella is laughing and waving for me. Rachel found her shell. Mark. [a footnote from Elisabeth] Mark died this morning at 6:04 a.m. The sun was rising, his favorite time of day. I sent this on so that you might know he was thinking of you all and that he appreciated knowing you would remember him well.

Carter

[to the Mai Mai soldiers] You guys burned the clinic to the ground?! You guys... You guys keep burning down hospitals, where are you gonna go when you get shot, huh? Where are you gonna go when your mothers get shot?!

Carter

[to Kem] I want you to come back to the States with me... I want our baby to be born an American.

Carter

Kem? They're gonna come down and take us to our new room soon. And when they come, they're gonna take the baby, and we're never gonna see him again... I don't know what the right thing is to say. I don't know what the right thing to do is [he starts to cry]... It was an accident! [Kem sobs silently] It was nothing that you did wrong, it was nothing that we did wrong. It just happened. I love you, and I wanna spend the rest of my life with you. But we have to say goodbye to our son now. I have to help you to do that, and I don't know how to do that. Please help me. Please. [long pause, then Kem nods slowly] Okay?... [he gently picks up their stillborn son, brings him over, and puts him in Kem's arms; Kem bursts into tears again when she looks at the baby's face] He's beautiful. [Carter puts his arms around Kem and cries with her as she rocks the stillborn back and forth] I love you so much.

Carter

The Janjaweed have turned this place into the wild wild west.