Meredith Grey quotes from Grey's Anatomy

Meredith

[voice over] Patients say it all the time, "Tell me straight up, I just want to know what's going on. Tell me, I can handle it." We don't dodge your questions because we're mean. We do it because when you say you want the truth, you have no idea what you are talking about.

Meredith

[voice over] They say the truth will set you free. What the hell do they know? The truth is horrible, frightening. The truth is more than you can bear. We're supposed to be straight with you, so be careful what you ask for when you walk into a hospital because when you find out what's really going on, you may never recover.

Meredith

[voice over] There's no such thing as magic, as far as we know. And while as surgeons, we study the secrets behind the human body's intricate network of cells, tissues and organs. When things go wrong, horribly, horribly wrong, there are only so many tricks we have up our sleeves to put a body back together. But there is a kind of power, more of a spell really, and when we get it right, it can be pretty damn magical.

Meredith

[voice over] As surgeons we are no stranger to the breaks and tears in the human body, in fact we sacrifice the better part of our twenties learning every possible way to make it a whole again. But there are some wounds a surgeon can't repair. Not on their own. It takes a kind of power we just don't have. There's no such thing as magic, not in the traditional 'abracadabra, genie in a bottle' kind of way. But there is magic in knowing that while not everything can be repaired, most everything can be survived.

Meredith

[voice over] They hit you out of nowhere. When bad things come, they come suddenly, without warning. We rarely get to see the catastrophe coming, no matter how well we try to prepare for it.

Meredith

[voice over] We do our very best, but sometimes it's just not good enough. We buckle our seatbelts, we wear a helmet, we stick to the lighted paths, we try to be safe. We try so hard to protect ourselves, but it doesn't make a damn bit of difference. Cause when the bad things come, they come out of nowhere. The bad things come suddenly, with no warning. But we forget that sometimes that's how the good things come too.

Meredith

[voice over] I had this bad ass professor in med school. She seemed invincible. Then, one day, she needed her gallbladder out and the surgery killed her. Her platelets stopped clotting, she bled out on the table. Everything that could have gone wrong, did go wrong. Surgeons have a name for it. We call it a perfect storm. Funny, never thought it would happen to me.

Meredith

[voice over] There's an end to every storm. Once all the trees have been uprooted. Once all the houses have been ripped apart. The wind will hush, the clouds will part, the rain will stop, the sky will clear in an instant. But only then, in those quiet moments after the storm, do we learn who was strong enough to survive it.

Meredith

You know what I was thinking before you guys came in here? [sighs] I was thinking that I wish my mother were here to see my kids. I was wondering if she'd make a good grandmother. But you know what that is? It's delusional thinking. Because my mother would make a horrible grandmother, because she was a horrible mother. So... I'm delusional and hormonal. And I can't trust my delusional thoughts. I have to rely on the labs. So we need to run the lactate again, and if it's above 6, we're going to do the surgery. And if it's not, we're not. [Cristina, Owen & Bailey nod in agreement]

Meredith

[voice over] There's this playground game that kids play. They lock hands and on the count of three they try to snap their fingers off. You hold on as long as you can, or at least longer than the other guy. The game doesn't end until someone says stop, gives up, cries mercy. It isn't a fun game.

Meredith

[voice over] In the game of mercy, when one kid cries out, the other one listens and the pain stops. Don't you wish it was that easy now? That's not a game anymore, and we're not kids. You can cry mercy all you want but nobody's listening. It's just you screaming into a void.

Meredith

[voice over] As anyone who's ever had their tonsils out can tell you, surgery isn't cheap. It takes a lot of money to keep the hospital's doors open. And when the funds run out, it's on us to get out there and raise some more. Which means it's time to put on make up. It's time to dress up right. It's time to get things started on The Muppet Show... Crap, sorry. I've been watching a lot of children's television lately. But you get the idea.

Meredith

[voice over] Overture. Curtain. Lights. This is it. The night of nights. No more rehearsing and nursing a part. We know every part by heart. Tonight, what heights we'll hit. On with the show. This is it.

Meredith

[voice over] Here's what I learned my first day at medical school. Think long and hard before choosing to become a surgeon. It takes 100% commitment. You have to be on your A game every single time you walk into that OR. When patients are lying on your table, completely at your mercy, they need to know that when you make that first cut you know what you're doing. No other specialty requires the time, the focus, the complete dedication... Except maybe being a mom.

Meredith

[voice over] What if your focus splits? What if you can't be all in? Are you left with nothing at all? Maybe you just need to find a different path. Here's what's horrifying, what if you can't give 100%? Maybe you just need to go back to the beginning and start all over again.