John Carter quotes from E.R.

Pratt

You can do the rectal.

The rectal?

Carter

Play nice, kids. Don't make me stop this trauma.

Luka

[about Abby] She's a big girl, Carter.

Carter

Yeah, with a drinking problem.

Luka

I don't tell people how to live.

Carter

She was living in your house.

Luka

I didn't make her start drinking again.

Carter

You didn't stop her.

Luka

She's not a drunk.

Carter

Yes, she is. Are you stupid or do you just not give a damn about her? Or do you want her to keep drinking, is that it? You like 'em a little vulnerable so you can play the caring brooding comforter?

Luka

Don't push your luck, Carter.

Carter

What are you gonna do? Beat me up? You're gonna bash my head into the ground?

Luka

Get out of my way.

Carter

If you're not helping her, you're hurting her.

Mark's gone. That means you've been here longer than any other doctor. People will look to you to step in and fill the void.

Carter

Big void.

You know, sometimes I don't think I can do this.

Carter

You know, there's two kinds of doctors. There's the kind that get rid of their feelings, and the kind that hold on to them. If you hold on to your feelings, you're going to get sick every once in a while. It's part of it. You know, people come in here, and they're sick, and they're bleeding, sometimes they're dying. And they need our help. And helping them is more important than how we feel. But hell, I've been doing this eight years, I still get sick. Take another minute.

Carter

Abby is the Obi-Wan Kenobi of nursing.

Pratt

What does that make you, Yoda?

Carter

Learn from her you will.

Carter

[Attending to two lawyers with burns on the bottoms of their feet] Why walk on hot coals?

It was a bonding exercise. We're partners at the same firm.

[Annoyed] It was a stupid idea. If I could walk, I'd kick your ass!

Abby

Tell me everything's going to be okay.

Carter

Everything's going to be okay.

Carter

Monkeypox sounds like a video game.

Abby

Or Voodoo.

Carter

Or VD.

Abby

Chaos theory?

Carter

Yeah, a virus mutates in the Congo. We evacuate an ER in Chicago. Romano gets his arm cut off.

Abby

You lost me.

Carter

Seemingly random events, all part of a larger equation.

Abby

I'm hot.

Carter

You know, a butterfly flaps its wings in China, and creates a tornado halfway around the world.

Abby

Are you hot?

Carter

I'm just saying that there's an inherent unpredictability about everything-- evolution, life. Love, relationships.

Abby

So what am I? The butterfly or tornado?

Carter

No, you're chaos in general.

Abby

Oh, thanks.

Carter

No, I'm just saying, you're chaos to me. The unknown. I'm chaos to you.

Abby

You are hardly chaos, Carter.

Carter

I'm just saying there's a risk in anything that you do, right? But don't you want to stack the odds in your favor? I mean, I'm drawn to you. It's kind of that simple. I've been drawn to you for two years, but chaos always seems to rule, and I don't want it to rule. I want to know where it's taking me. You know what I mean?

Abby

Nope.

Carter

The tornado. Definitely the tornado.

Carter

Ah, the smell of fresh med students in the morning.

Susan

What is it about them? They all seem so...

Frank

Gullible, immature, vapid?

Susan

I was going to say "sweet".

Chen

Hey Carter. What's up with your boss? I heard she was crying earlier.

Carter

Weaver?

Chen

Yeah. Did she have a bad break up or something? Shes been really moody lately.

Carter

Lately?

Carter

Look, I'm sorry, the day just kind of got away from me. Why don't we try again tomorrow?

Erin

No, no, I don't think so, no. I have been here for 16 hours. I have been ignored, and yelled at, and called "honey" and "sweetie" and "bitch"... twice. I don't smell good, and all I've had to eat is gummy bears and diet coke. I'm not leaving until I get what I came for.

Pratt

I just want to say thanks for backing me up like that.

Carter

A chief resident and a cardiologist with more than 25 years of experience pronounce a man dead and you decide to resurrect him.

Pratt

Yes, but just like you said...

Carter

You think I defended you because I like you or because I approve of the way that you practice medicine? You are my responsibility. You are my job.

Pratt

And I'm doing mine.

Carter

If you wanted to shock, you could've stat paged me overhead. I could have been here in a second and we could have discussed it. Instead, you go off without any regard for authority or even the best interest of your patient.

Pratt

Now, that's not true. I mean, the guy's got kids, he's got a wife. I was just trying to save him...

Carter

You brought the man back, Pratt because you felt like it. Because you wanted to see if you could.

Carter

I got stabbed, Lucy got killed, and today, Abby and Chen get a gun to their heads. I'm sorry, no. It's got to stop. Otherwise, it's not worth doing.

Susan

I know, Carter. You're an emergency room doctor. It's about getting through the shift.

Abby

Time of death, 7:36 a.m.

Carter

Ah. Your goldfish coded?

Abby

Yep. Third time this week. Every afternoon I restock the little pond here, and every morning it's like the Exxon Valdez came through.

Carter

You can get somebody else to do this for you.

Abby

Well, I'm committed.

Carter

Committed fish killer.