Meredith: (opening 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.

Izzie: (to Amanda) Get up. I mean it, get up. Get up! Now go get a life.
Amanda: I can't.
Izzie: 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.
Amanda: (crying) I ... I don't know how.
Izzie: Nobody does! Nobody knows how. But God, have enough respect for George to figure it out, because if I see you sitting on this bench ever again, I will kick your ass from here to Sunday!

Izzie: Be my husband. Get undressed, get into bed, and hold me. I don't know what you're so mad about, and I don't know what you're so scared of, because you won't talk to me, but I'm scared too, Alex, and I can't, if you won't, If we're gonna have any chance at a life together, then I need you please.
Alex: Iz, you died in my arms. You died in my arms! You freaking died, and then you left instructions that I wasn't allowed to save your life! You want to 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 freaking died in my arms!

Cristina: That's a lot of neucrotic small bowel.
Lexie: Can you save any of it?
Bailey: Yesterday I could have. Yesterday this would have been a simple drainage but that was before Dr. Yang threatened my patient with a colostomy that, thankfully will not be necessary because it did not actually involve the colon.
Cristina: How can I help?
Bailey: Oh, you've done enough.

Cristina: She asked me a question, I was right to answer it. I did my job. A patient asked me to disclose the risks of a surgical procedure and I am required by law and my oath to do so. If you know a way to sugar coat a colostomy bag I would like to hear it.
Bailey: If you know a more respectful way to speak to an attending surgeon I'd like to hear that. Until you do, you don't talk to me. You're off my service!

Arizona: Oh, I have wine. White and Red, and I have cigarettes. Which is awful I know, but I only smoke on very rare, very occasionally. And, only when I know I'm gonna be in trouble. Like now.
Callie: It was inappropriate. Not to mention manipulative and stupid. You smoke?
Arizona: I know. Listen, I know you have every right to be mad at me but I ran out of options. So...
Callie: It's an expensive test, there was no indication to do it, there was a reason Webber turned you down.
Arizona: So you didn't do it?
Callie: Of course I did it, Arizona.
Arizona: Thank you.

(closing voiceover)
Lexie: Grief may be a thing we all have in common, but it looks different on everyone.
Mark: It isn't just death we have to grieve. It's life. It's loss. It's change.
Alex: 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.
Izzie: That's how you stay alive. When it hurts so much you can't breathe, that's how you survive.
Derek: By remembering that one day, somehow, impossibly, you won't feel this way. It won't hurt this much.
Bailey: Grief comes in its own time for everyone, in its own way.
Owen: So the best we can do, the best anyone can do, is try for honesty.
Meredith: The really crappy thing, the very worst part of grief is that you can't control it.
Arizona: The best we can do is try to let ourselves feel it when it comes.
Callie: And let it go when we can.
Meredith: The very worst part is that the minute you think you're past it, it starts all over again.
Cristina: And always, every time, it takes your breath away.
Meredith: There are five stages of grief. They look different on all of us, but there are always five.
Alex: Denial.
Derek: Anger.
Bailey: Bargaining.
Lexie: Depression.
Chief: Acceptance.

Episode Title: Goodbye

"Goodbye" is the title of a song by several artists including Secondhand Serenade, Chris Brown, and Air Supply.

Derek comforting Bailey on the elevator is very similar to a scene from "Into You Like a Train."