30 Of The Best Quotes From All 19 Seasons Of Grey’s Anatomy

For almost 19 years, Grey’s Anatomy has pulled at our heartstrings. There have been scenes that have made us literally cry into our pillows (RIP McDreamy), others that have made us want to smash a coffee cup and some that have made us say “Awww.” As we follow the professional and personal lives of the doctors at Grey-Sloan Memorial Hospital, we can’t help but we feel as if we really know them. So when the show’s characters talk, it really feels like they’re talking to us. The writing is just too good– thank you Shonda Rhimes. Try not to cry as you read some of the show’s best quotables of all-time.

On Love

“Don’t let what he wants eclipse what you need. He’s very dreamy, but he’s not the sun. You are.” – Cristina Yang

“I love you, in a really really big, pretend to like your taste in music, let you eat the last piece of cheesecake, hold a radio over my head outside your window, unfortunate way that makes me hate you, love you. So pick me, choose me, love me.” – Meredith Grey

“You were like coming up for fresh air. It’s like I was drowning and you saved me.” –Derek Shepherd

“It always feels like there is just one person in this world to love. And then you find somebody else, and it just seems crazy that you were ever worried in the first place.” – Lexie Grey

“Please, don’t chase me anymore, unless you’re ready to catch me.” – Callie Torres

“Oh screw beautiful! I’m brilliant! If you want to appease me, compliment my brain.” – Cristina Yang

“The only time I don’t feel like a ghost is when you look at me, because when you look at me, you see me. You see me. This is me.” – Owen Hunt

“The problem is we are human. We want more than to just survive. We want to love.” – Lexie Grey

“Maybe I do believe it, all this ‘meant to be’ stuff. Why not believe it, really? Who doesn’t want more romance in their life? Maybe it’s just up to us to make it happen. To show up and be meant for each other.” – Meredith Grey

“You. You’re everything. I love you, and I’m not going to stop loving you. I can’t live without you. I don’t want to live without you, and I’m going to do everything in my power to prove it.” – Derek Shepherd

On Life

“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 lives drawing lines. Or you can live your life crossing them.” – Meredith Grey

“Don’t let fear keep you quiet. You have a voice so use it. Speak up. Raise your hands. Shout your answers. Make yourself heard. Whatever it takes, just find your voice, and when you do, fill the damn silence.” – Meredith Grey

“Yes, horrible things do happen. Happiness, in the face of all of that, that’s not the goal. Feeling horrible, and knowing that you’re not gonna die from those feelings, that’s the point.” – Katharine Wyatt

“Sometimes it’s good to be scared. It means you still have something to lose.” – Richard Webber

“Cause you never think that the last time is the last time. You think there will be more. You think you have forever, but you don’t.” – Meredith Grey

“We spend our whole lives worrying about the future, planning for the future, trying to predict the future, as if figuring it out will cushion the blow. But the future is always changing. The future is the home of our deepest fears and wildest hopes. But one thing is certain, when it finally reveals itself. The future is never the way we imagined it.” – Meredith Grey

“And if you can’t do it, if you aren’t willing to keep looking for light in the darkest of places without stopping, even when it seems impossible, you will never succeed.” – Amelia Shepherd

“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 Grey

“It doesn’t matter how tough we are. Trauma always leaves a scar. It follows us home, it changes our lives. Trauma messes everybody up. But maybe that’s the point. All the pain and the fear and the crap. Maybe going through all that is what keeps us moving forward. It’s what pushes us. Maybe we have to get a little messed up, before we can step up.” – Alex Karev

“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, it 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, it won’t feel this way. It won’t hurt this much. Grief comes in it’s own time for everyone in it’s 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.” – Meredith Grey

“We don’t get unlimited chances to have the things that we want, and this I know. Nothing is worse than missing an opportunity that could have changed your life.” – Addison Montgomery

“Yes or no. In or out. Up or down. Live or die. Hero or coward. Fight or give in. I’ll say it again to make sure you hear me. The human life is made up of choices. Live or die. That’s the important choice. And it’s not always in our hands.” – Derek Shepherd

“Why does it feel so good to get rid of things? To unload? To let go? Maybe because when we see how little we actually need to survive, it makes us realize how powerful we actually are. To strip down to only what we need. To hang on to only what we can’t do without. Not just to survive, but to thrive.” – Meredith Grey

“Bad things happen, but you have to move past it. Leave it behind. The sooner, the better. Or it’ll eat away at you and stop you from moving forward.” – Miranda Bailey

“It turns out sometimes you have to do the wrong thing. Sometimes you have to make a big mistake to figure out how to make things right. Mistakes are painful, but they’re the only way to find out who we really are.” – Denny Duquette

On Friendships

“We’re friends, real friends. And that means, no matter how long it takes, when you finally do decide to look back, I’ll still be here.” – Meredith Grey

“Gratitude. Appreciation. Giving thanks. No matter what words you use, it all means the same thing. Happy. We’re supposed to be happy. Grateful for friends, family, happy to just be alive… whether we like it or not.” – Meredith Grey

“If there’s an upside to free falling, it’s the chance you give your friends to catch you.” – Meredith Grey

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s that it only takes one person, one patient, one moment to change your life forever, to change your perspective, color your thinking.” – Cristina Yang

“If I murdered someone, she’s the person I’d call to help me drag the corpse across the living room floor.” – Cristina Yang