We're told not to bring our work home with us. Nor to bring our home to work with us. We're told that we have to set our own turbulent world aside for the day, place it on a shelf with all of our worries and fears, pick it up and dust it off when we get home after a long shift. We're told our private life shouldn't affect the care we give. But who we are, where we come from, this is how we care. The impossible conundrum of caring for others when we don't have the first clue how to care for ourselves.

Grace

Grace: A sick patient accidentally hit me. I was scared, and then Security showed up. I got up, and everyone made a really big deal about it.
Rori: Is it not a big deal?
Grace: No! It's not. It's the job. And if I was somebody who couldn't handle it, I would have changed careers, okay? Nurses take crap from patients, they take crap from doctors, and then we make it about the patient because that's what matters.
Rori: Doesn't it all matter? The patient? The doctors? You? Don't you matter?

Ashley: It wasn't a drunk dare. I mean, I used to, um, talk to God and Jesus in my head all day long. Every day, every decision. It didn't, didn't really feel religious, you know? Until it did. I got gay. And I hated the hate, but that deeper sense of meaning, how do you replace that? Where's Phillis? So that's why no fishbowl.
Caro: Well, it's too bad because you're really good at making a joke out of everything else.

Naz: You are so much more likable when you talk. No, honestly, you should keep doing it. Really. You have a great laugh.
Opera Singer: If there's a chance to sing and laugh too, that's the sweet spot. I know I might never sing after tomorrow, like actual singing, but I don't want to be that spinning ballerina.

I do get why you don't wanna do the surgery. I mean the risks. The idea of losing your ability to sing when that's what really makes you feel alive. I don't have that. I think I like nursing, I don't know. Sometimes I wonder what I'm doing here. Back home I had a personal driver. And the food! No winter plus so much attention, which I love. I really loved that life, but it changed after my brother. Then, the parties, the glamour, it all turned. And I was, you know like those music boxes? The ballerina spins around, perfect every time, and then you realize, she's trapped inside it.

Naz

Caro: I know that look
Ashley: What, the uh, the look of drunk?
Caro: Who died?
Ashley: Phillis room 309-B. She was, uh, she was funny.
Caro: You lost a patient before?
Ashley: No, and I don't get it, I mean it's not like she was a child.
Caro: Doesn't matter. I was a mess after a house call for a man who fell down his stairs. He was 93. You learn to recognize the look.
Ashley: Yeah, maybe I don't want to.

Dr. Kaplan: She signed the consent form, so.
Naz: But now she's saying no. This isn't consent.

Naz: You've been rotating between hospitals receiving cortisone. Cortisone is a synthetic steroid. It mimics cortisone, supressing pain. If you don't feel the pain, you won't know if you're pushing yourself too hard or it there's a problem. Dr. Kaplan made himself clear.
Opera Singer: If the scope scratches my vocal chords, I will destroy you. My voice is my life.

For the record, I'm not a dog.

Naz (After her patient rings a bell for her)

People like to compare nurses to saints; do-gooders selflessly caring for others. Problem with this is, it's just not human. And, I mean, how can you not make a total mess of your personal life when the job takes everything you've got?

Grace

Nurses Season 1 Episode 3 Quotes

For the record, I'm not a dog.

Naz (After her patient rings a bell for her)

People like to compare nurses to saints; do-gooders selflessly caring for others. Problem with this is, it's just not human. And, I mean, how can you not make a total mess of your personal life when the job takes everything you've got?

Grace