Meredith Grey quotes from Grey's Anatomy

Meredith

[opening voice-over] Backaches, jaw pain, nausea. In men, these things are probably exactly what they seem like. But in women, they're all symptoms of a heart attack. Sometimes, the symptom is hiding what's going on underneath. It's all in the way it presents itself.

Meredith

[closing voice-over] What happens when the gloves come off and you stop hiding behind your mask? What's your next move? Do you take your best shot and see where it lands? Or do you hang back, wait a minute, and see if you get sucker punched? It's your move. You can either retreat or go out swinging, so whatcha gonna do?

Meredith

[opening voice-over] I used to spend hours studying old footage of my mother's surgeries. I dissected every move, every cut, every decision. I was piecing together a puzzle, watching, studying, learning. It's a luxury we don't have when the patient is splayed open in front of us. We can't rewind. There's no replay. We just have to cut and hope to God we know what the hell we're doing.

Meredith

[closing voice-over] Hindsight is always 20/20. It's easy to figure out what you should have done when you replay it. You see your mistakes. You know how you'd correct them. But that's the kicker, isn't it?

Meredith

[opening voice-over] Surgeons have a saying: all bleeding must stop. It's sort of our version of "this too shall pass". Every crisis will eventually come to an end. You either save your patient, or you won't. So, one way or the other, the bleeding will stop. Actually, as far as sayings go, this one's really not all that comforting.

Meredith

[closing voice-over] All bleeding must stop. Sometimes, it does so at a cost. You lose the arm, remove the organ. You choose to live with the loss, because at the end of the day, you'll do whatever you can to stay alive. And sometimes, by some miracle, it works. The bleeding stops. But sometimes, now matter how hard you try, it's still not enough.

Meredith

[opening voice-over] Surgeons are often evaluated on speed and efficiency, but that doesn't mean faster is always better. You jump the gun, you risk making the wrong diagnosis. We don't always have the time to think before we act and that's what gets us in trouble.

Meredith

[closing voice-over] Once that first shot is fired, we're committed. There's almost no way to take it back. The question becomes: do we keep firing back and declare an all-out war?

Meredith

[opening voice-over] Sometimes, you can't go it alone. You need someone on your side. In medicine, we have surgical assists, second opinions. We stack our deck. We're dealing with life and death here. You don't want to get caught with your pants down.

Meredith

[closing voice-over] The thing about being on a team is, it's a commitment. You have to bring it. You have to help with the win, no matter what. You may not always like your teammates. You have to learn to share the ball. You have to be all-in, one side or the other. But if you play hard, give it your all, really commit, victory is that much sweeter.

Meredith

[opening voice-over] There's this Bible story. Two women both claim to be the mother of the same child. King Solomon had to choose. Two mothers, only one gets the kid. Solomon came up with a plan. He proposed a 50/50 split. Literally. He offered to chop the kid in half. It all ends if one mom relinquishes her custody, or else they both stand their ground, and the kid gets torn apart.

Meredith

[closing voice-over] If you're wondering how the Solomon story ends, spoiler alert. The true mom would rather give her baby up than have it ripped in two. But what happens when there are two true mothers? That's a no win situation. That is an entirely different story.

Meredith

[opening voice-over] Infections have a nasty way of sneaking up on you. You're feeling pretty good, you think the infection is gone, and then, it reappears, out of nowhere. When your body's still weak, when you're barely recovered, BAM! You're infected all over again. And once the infection spreads, once it gets into your bloodstream, well, then you really have to watch it, cause that's the kind of infection that can kill you.

Meredith

[closing voice-over] You know that thing, that terrible thing, you thought you had laid to rest? What if you didn't? You know that thing you think you finally figured out? What if you haven't? When do you know you've put something to bed? When is it finally safe to move on? Maybe you never know. Maybe you just have to test the water. You have to see how it feels. And if it feels good, I mean really good, then, hell, I say go for it.

Meredith

[opening voice-over] They say love knows no bounds. I don’t know about that. I feel like I’ve seen the bounds and pushed them a couple of times. Love definitely has bounds. I’ve seen where it ends.