There are two kinds of people in the world—those who gain all of their medical knowledge from watching Grey’s Anatomy and those who, unfortunately, don’t watch. (Boo, those people!) The long-running medical drama that has made mega-stars out of Ellen Pompeo, Sandra Oh, Katherine Heigl, Justin Chambers, Jesse Williams, and Patrick Dempsey, is still going strong in its 20th season.
While those numbers aren’t what the show reached in its heyday, Grey’s clearly still resonates with its viewers. So much so, in fact, that Grey’s creator Shonda Rhimes told Variety in 2021 what she hopes the legacy of the series will be.
“The number of women who have become doctors because of that show is magical to me,” Rhimes said. “The number of people who’ve come to me and told me that they learned how to do CPR, or figured out that they were having a heart attack because of that show, is magical to me.”
Something else that’s magical to Rhimes? Grey’s was her first foray into TV.
“It was my very first television show,” she explained. “It was something I made up 20 years ago and it’s still there, and still existing. It’s inspiring to me!”
As the series sets itself up for a restart without Meredith Grey at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, we’re looking back on some of the memorable moments from the show. Here are the 50 of the best Grey’s Anatomy quotes.
1. “We may only be together five minutes every two months, but when we do we will savor every second. We know how valuable those five minutes are.” —Ben Warren
2. “Why do we even try when the barriers are so high and the odds are so low? Why don’t we just pack it in and go home?” —Amelia Shepherd
3. “The body is a slave to its impulses. But the thing that makes us human is what we can control. After the storm, after the rush, after the heat of the moment has passed, we can cool off and clean up the messes we made. We can try to let go of what was.” —Meredith Grey
4. “I’m up there waiting for you to come down the aisle and…I know you don’t want to come. If I loved you, I wouldn’t be up there waiting for you. I would be letting you go.” —Preston Burke
5. “Sometimes you have to be a shark.” —Lucy Fields
6. “Deal with your jealousy. Deal with your shortcomings. Don’t put your crap on me.” —Stephanie Edwards
7. “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
8. “Maybe we like the pain. Maybe we’re wired that way. Because without it, I don’t know; maybe we just wouldn’t feel real. What’s that saying? Why do I keep hitting myself with a hammer? Because it feels so good when I stop.” —Meredith Grey
9. “If you love someone, you tell them. Even if you’re scared that it’s not the right thing. Even if you’re scared that it’ll cause problems. Even if you’re scared that it will burn your life to the ground, you say it, and you say it loud and you go from there.” —Mark Sloan
10. “You have to go back to the beginning to understand the end.” —Teddy Altman
11. “Knowing is better than wondering. Waking is better than sleeping, and even the biggest failure, even the worst, beats the hell out of never trying.” —Meredith Grey
12. “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
13. “You were like coming up for fresh air. It’s like I was drowning and you saved me. That’s all I know.” —Derek Shepherd
14. “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
15. “Being aware of your crap and actually overcoming your crap are two very different things.” —Cristina Yang
16. “I love everything about you. Even the things I don’t like, I love. And I want you with me. I love you and I think you love me too. Do you?” —Jackson Avery
17. “Not everyone has to be happy all the time. That isn’t mental health. That’s crap.” —Meredith Grey
18. “Sometimes it’s good to be scared. It means you still have something to lose.” —Richard Webber
19. “It’s a beautiful day to save lives.” —Derek Shepherd
20. “Don’t analyze everything. Just do it.” —Alex Karev
21. “Intimacy is a four letter syllable for, here’s my heart and soul, please grind them into a hamburger and enjoy. It’s both desired and feared. Difficult to live with, impossible to live without.” —Meredith Grey
