Meredith Grey Quotes

Meredith Grey (narration): The first surgeons were vivisectionists. When they opened a body, they had no intention of closing it. They just wanted to see what was inside. And what they found was a world of possibility. The possibility to heal, to reverse the damage, to turn back time. When the worst of our fears are realized, when everything we've counted on has disappeared, something still drives us to try to fix the past, or to find our future, when the only thing that needs our attention is the present. And its infinite possibilities.

Meredith Grey (narration): For surgeons, every day is game day. We've trained. We've practiced. We know the rules. Unlike the laws of science, the rules of life aren't always clear. Some rules are unwritten. Some rules are open to interpretation. And just when we think we have a handle on the rules, something comes along that totally changes the game.

Meredith Grey (narration): The longest surgery on record lasted for four days straight. A team of surgeons rotated in and out, holding scalpels for sometimes 18 hours at a stretch. Try holding anything in your hand for 18 hours. Now imagine you're also holding a human life. When you hold on to anything for too long, your muscles conform to the position you're holding. That applies to the heart and the mind, as well as the hand. The pain you know is coming is what makes it easier to just keep holding on.

Meredith Grey (narration): On average, a healthy heart beats 115,000 times per day. When excited, the heart rate can double. The heart pumps 2,000 gallons of blood through your entire body 24 hours a day. It never rests. The heart is the hardest-working muscle in your body. But when it's damaged, it's just like skin. It scars, and scar tissue can be very dangerous in a heart. It weakens it. And eventually, a heart full of scars stops working. Scarred hearts don't heal, but over time, the scars can change. They can become smoother, softer. And some scars can even fade away.

Meredith Grey (narration): We've all heard the quote: "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration." Easy for Thomas Edison to say. He had all the good ideas. Inspiration is not some mystical, unattainable thing. Inspiration is a seed. That seed turns into vision. That vision turns into a goal. And hopefully, that goal turns into victory. I said, hopefully.

Meredith Grey (narration): There are some moments in the OR that everything goes to hell, and no matter how much you've seen, how ready you are, how much help you have, nothing can truly prepare you. You have to keep going, or your patient will die. The trouble is, in these moments, every instinct in your body tells you to freeze. So what do we do when instinct tells us to freeze? When we can't see the right answer? In those moments, it's usually a good idea to trust the instinct and say pause, because decisions made in the heat of the moment can ruin a whole lot of lives.

Meredith Grey (narration): There are some disasters you just don't see coming, no matter how carefully you plan. A little surprise that changes everything. In surgery, we call it a complication. In life, it's a catastrophe. In surgery, we call it a complication, a disruption, a glitch, a nasty surprise. It calls for extreme measures. You have to react quickly, try to catch up, because it came out of nowhere. And it can take everything away.

Meredith Grey (narration): Surgeons are scientists, trained to believe only in that which we can see and touch. But that training doesn't always take. Scientist or not, most of us who've been at this a while are forced to acknowledge the mysteries of life. We're forced to acknowledge that certain kinds of magic exist. And that history, and memory, and the ghosts of our past, are sometimes just as tangible as anything we can hold in our hands.