Each of you comes here today hopeful, wanting in on the game. A month ago, you were in med school being taught by doctors. Today, you are the doctors. The seven years you spend here as a surgical resident will be the best and worst of your life. You will be pushed to the breaking point. Look around you. Say hello to your competition. Eight of you will switch to an easier specialty. Five of you will crack under the pressure. Two of you will be asked to leave. This is your starting line. This is your arena. How well you play...That's up to you.
S1 E1A Hard Day's Night
I have five rules. Memorize them. Rule number one: Don't bother sucking up. I already hate you. That's not gonna change. Trauma protocol, phone list, pagers. Nurses will page you, you answer every page at a run. A run! That's rule number two! Your first shift starts now and lasts 48 hours. You're interns, grunts, nobodies, bottom of the surgical food chain. You run labs, write orders, work every second night until you drop, and don't complain! On-call rooms. Attendings hog them. Sleep when you can where you can, which brings me to rule number three. If I'm sleeping, don't wake me unless your patient is actually dying. Rule number four: The dying patient better not be dead when I get there. Not only will you have killed someone, you would have woke me for no good reason. We clear?
[Meredith raises her hand]
Yes?
You said five rules. That was only four.
[glares and continues walking] Rule number five: when I move, you move.
Dr. Shepherd.
Dr. Shepherd? This morning it was Derek, now it's Dr. Shepherd.
Dr. Shepherd, we should pretend it never happened.
What never happened? You sleeping with me last night? Or you throwing me out this morning? Because both are very fond memories I'd like to hold on to.
No, there will be no memories. I'm not the girl in the bar anymore and you're not the guy. This can't exist. You get that, right?
You took advantage of me and now you want to forget about it?
I did not take—
I was drunk, vulnerable and good looking and you took advantage.
Okay, I was the one who was drunk and you are NOT that good looking.
Maybe not today, but last night I was very good looking. I had on my red shirt, my good looking shirt and you took advantage.
I did not!
Would you like to take advantage again, say Friday night?
No! You're an attending and I'm your intern! Stop looking at me like that.
Like what?
Like you've seen me naked.
[Derek laughs]
I wish I wanted to be a chef, or a ski instructor, or a kindergarten teacher.
You know, I would have been a really good postal worker. I'm dependable.
[Meredith chuckles]
You know, my parents tell everyone they meet that their son's a surgeon. As if it's a big accomplishment. Superhero or something... If they could see me now.
When I told my mother I wanted to go to medical school, she tried to talk me out of it. Said I didn't have what it takes to be a surgeon, that I'd never make it. So the way I see it, superhero sounds pretty damn good.
[voiceover] I can't think of any one reason why I want to 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.
S1 E2The First Cut is the Deepest
[voiceover] It's all about lines. The finish line at the end of residency, waiting in line for a chance at the operating table, and then there's the most important line, the line separating you from the people you work with. It doesn't help to get too familiar, to make friends. You need boundaries, between you and the rest of the world. Other people are far too messy. It's all about lines. Drawing lines in the sand and praying like hell no one crosses them.
Every intern wants to perform their first surgery. That's not your job. Do you know what your job is? To make your resident happy. Do I look happy? No! Why? Because my interns are whiny. You know what will make me look happy? Having the code team staffed, having the trauma pages answered, having the weekend labs delivered and having someone down in the pit doing the sutures. No one holds a scalpel until I'm so happy I'm Mary Freakin' Poppins.
I kissed Derek.
You kissed Derek?
In the elevator.
Why'd you kiss him in the elevator?
I was having a bad day. I am having a bad day.
This is what you do on your bad days, make out with Dr. McDreamy.
Well, you know, that and carrying around a penis just makes everything seem so shiny and happy.
Who here feels like they have no idea what they're doing?
[Everyone except Alex raises their hands]
[voiceover] 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 life drawing lines or you can live your life crossing them. [...] But there are some lines [...] that are way too dangerous to cross. [...] Here's what I know, if you're willing to take the chance, the view from the other side is spectacular.
S1 E3Winning a Battle, Losing the War
[voiceover] We live out our lives on the surgical unit. Seven Days a week, fourteen hours a day, we're together more than we are apart. After a while, the ways of residency becomes the ways of life. Number one : Always keep score. Number two: do whatever you can to outsmart the other guy. Number three: Don't make friends with the enemy. Oh, yeah, Number four: Everything, everything is a competition. Whoever said winning wasn't everything ... Never held a scalpel.
[to Cristina and Meredith] This is the men's room. Either whip one out, or close the door.
They're everywhere. All the time. Izzie's all perky and George does this thing 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.
Kick them out.
I can't kick them out, they just moved in. I asked them to move in.
So what, you're just going to repress everything in some deep, dark, twisted place until one day you snap and kill them?
Yep.
This is why we are friends.
Oh, that kills you, doesn't it?
What?
That two women got the harvest.
No, it kills me that anybody got the harvest, but me. Boobs do not factor into this equation. Unless you want to show me yours.
I'm going to become a lesbian.
Me too.
[voiceover] There's another way to survive this competition. A way no one ever seems to tell you about. One you have to learn for yourself. Number five: It's not about the race at all. There are no winners or losers. Victories are counted by the number of lives saved. [...] And once in a while, if you're smart, the life you save could be your own.
These quotes come from Wikiquote's Grey's Anatomy pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.