[voiceover] According to Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, when we are dying or have suffered a catastrophic loss, we all move through five distinct stages of grief. We go into denial because the loss is so unthinkable we can't imagine it's true. We become angry with everyone, angry with survivors, angry with ourselves. Then we bargain. We beg. We plead. We offer everything we have, we offer up our souls in exchange for just one more day. When the bargaining has failed and the anger is too hard to maintain, we fall into depression, despair, until finally we have to accept that we have done everything we can. We let go. We let go and move into acceptance.
S6 E1Good Mourning
He wrote in my hand
LBLexie, Bailey, Hunt, Cristina, Shepherd, Sloan, Callie, Webber
What do you mean he wrote in your hand?
He just grabbed my hand, and he squeezed it and he wrote with his finger.
He wrote with his finger?
You know in my hand, he wrote 007.
[grabs Meredith's hand and proceeds to write on it using her finger] Okay, what did I write?
Joe?
N! I did not write JOE!
Are you serious!
You mean this might not be O'Malley?
This is funny.
Did anybody try to phone O'Malleyf? Can we get him on the phone?
[Everybody retrieves their cell phones and start calling]
I'm telling you he squeezed my hand.
[hushes Meredith] Shut it! You don't get to talk anymore! You don't get to talk ever again!
I could have sworn it was George.
[Izzie and Alex come home and run into Derek and Meredith having a quickie on the stairs.]
We're newlyweds!
A post-it wedding does not make you newlyweds!
[voiceover] In medical school, we have a hundred lessons that teach us how to fight off death, and not one lesson on how to go on living.
S6 E2Goodbye
[voiceover] The dictionary defines grief as keen mental suffering or distress over affliction or loss; sharp sorrow; painful regret. As surgeons, as scientists, we're taught to learn from and rely on books, on definitions, on definitives. But in life, strict definitions rarely apply. In life, grief can look like a lot of things that bear little resemblance to sharp sorrow.
[Alex, Derek and Arizona are waiting on a CT myelogram]
McDreamy.
I'm sorry?
I get it now the whole, you know, "McDreamy" thing. I didn't, I didn't get it before. But now I get it. You know they call you that, right? [Alex rolls his eyes]
[smiles] Yes.
I'm involved, by the way, in case you thought that I was just coming on to you, because I was not. Plus I heard that you got married so congratulations.
Yes, thank you.
[snickers] You wrote some hokey crap on a post-it note in the residents' lounge. Sorry, but until you're sweating it out in a morning coat with a ball of white taffeta coming at you, you're not really married.
[chuckles] Oh, I've consummated mine. I consummate mine all the time. How's that going for you, Karev? Girls talk. You might want to consider that the next time you judge my post-it.
Get up. I mean it get up. Get up! Now go get a life.
AAmanda
I can't.
George was a surgeon. He had a purpose he wanted to save lives and now he doesn't get the chance. Now he doesn't get the chance to do anything anymore. But you do. You could go to medical school, you know. You could hang out with your freaking friends, I don't care what you do. Just go do something with your life because you have one. You lived. You lived and George didn't and I know... I know... that that feels horrible and shocking and terrifying but you lived. So go live your freaking life.
AAmanda
I don't know how.
Nobody does. Nobody knows how. But god have enough respect for George to figure it out cos if I see you sitting on this bench ever again I will kick your ass from here to Sunday.
[to Izzie] You died in my arms. You died in my arms, you freakin' died and then you left instructions that I wasn't allowed to save your life! You wanna know what I'm scared of? I'm scared of everything! I'm scared to move! I'm scared to breathe! I'm scared to touch you! I can't lose you. I won't survive. And that's your fault. You made me love you, you made me let you in, and then you freakin' die in my arms!
[voiceover] Grief may be a thing we all have in common, but it looks different on everyone.
It isn't just death we have to grieve. It's life. It's loss. It's change.
And when we wonder why it has to suck so much sometimes, has to hurt so bad. The thing we gotta try to remember is that it can turn on a dime.
That's how you stay alive. When it hurts so much you can't breathe, that's how you survive.
By remembering that one day, somehow, impossibly, you won't feel this way. It won't hurt this much.
Grief comes in its own time for everyone, in its own way.
So the best we can do, the best anyone can do, is try for honesty.
The really crappy thing, the very worst part of grief is that you can't control it.
The best we can do is try to let ourselves feel it when it comes.
And let it go when we can.
The very worst part is that the minute you think you're past it, it starts all over again.
And always, every time, it takes your breath away.
There are five stages of grief. They look different on all of us, but there are always five.
Denial.
Anger.
Bargaining.
Depression.
Acceptance.
S6 E3I Always Feel Like Somebody's Watchin' Me
[voiceover] Paranoia gives you an edge in the OR. Surgeons play out worst-case scenarios in their heads. You're ready to close, you got the bleeder. You know it but there's that voice in your head asking. What if you didn't? What if the patient dies and you could have prevented it? So you check your work one more time before you close. Paranoia is a surgeon's best friend.
You know, it's not a good idea to piss off your attending.
Oh, I don't know he was upset, I'll apologize.
I wasn't talking about him.
Sorry?
I like kids, and I like their parents, and I like to see them smile. So I like going to get them pudding and playing games with them. Because it makes attaching their arms way more fun. I don't like being used. And I like being lied to even less.
I hate hate hate this merger. Because I hate long-distance relationships. I don't believe in them. So, you can't move to Portland.
When I mentioned it this afternoon you didn't seem to mind. You were like 'Move to Portland'.
I didn't know I was allowed to mind. I didn't know if we were girlfriends. But then you said girlfriend, you called me your girlfriend. So, I need to know. Am I your girlfriend?
Yeah.
OK. Great. So, yeah, no, you're not moving to Portland. No, what you are going to do is, you're going to the chief's office and beg for-
I'm not gonna grovel!
Yes, you are! Seriously, you don't wanna mess with me.
[voiceover] We're all susceptible to it, the dread and the anxiety of not knowing what's coming. It's pointless in the end, because all the worrying and all the making of plans for things that could or could not happen, it only makes things worse. So walk your dog or take a nap. Just whatever you do, stop worrying. Because the only cure for paranoia is to be here, just as you are.
S6 E4Tainted Obligation
[voiceover] We begin life with few obligations. We pledge allegiance to the flag. We swear to return our library books. But as we get older we take vows, we make promises, we get burdened by commitments, to do no harm, to tell the truth and nothing but, to love and cherish till death do us part. So we just keep running up the tap until we owe everything to everybody and suddenly think... what the.
[to Meredith] I didn't want to do this, I didn't want to have to come to you for anything, ever. So I thought if I looked up your blood type, and it was the wrong one, then that would be it. Then I could just stop thinking about it. But I can't, because you have his blood. And I know that he's not your dad, I know that he was never there for you and I would never ask you to give him anything, he doesn't deserve a thing from you, he doesn't. But he's, he's going to die Meredith. And so I'm asking you to give something to me. I'm asking, I am asking you to give me my dad, because as crappy as he was to you, god, he was wonderful to me. He never missed a single dance recital, he was there at my 5th grade graduation, what is that? That's not even real. I know he's not your dad, I know that. But somehow you have his blood, and I don't. So I'm asking you, give me my dad.
These quotes come from Wikiquote's Grey's Anatomy pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.