Grey's Anatomy: Preston Burke

The only one that can keep a promise like that is God, and I haven't seen him holding a scalpel lately. You never promise a patient's family a good outcome.

This is the men's room. Either whip one out, or close the door.

'Close’ appears to be something of an understatement.

I do, you operated, he survived, and chose me to take over while recruiting your wife.

I am glad that you're back, I’m just hiding my joy deep down inside.

You thought marriage was an idiotic institution.

He said that he wasn’t the most talented student at music school. He said that what he lacked in natural ability, he made up for it in discipline. He practiced all the time. All the time, he practiced. I was like him. I wasn’t the most talented student in school, I wasn’t the brightest. But I was the best.

You don't want to go out to dinner, you don't want to meet me in the on-call room and you sure as hell don't want to talk to me. I could pretend I know, but hey, I don't even have your home phone number. So tell me - what do you want

I believe there's a mind-body-spirit connection. And if Justin really doesn't want this heart, his body will reject it. Dr. Preston Burke: [to Christina] We go to sleep, I think everything is fine, by the time I wake up, you're just a little bit crazy.

You know all that ‘I trust you’ crap? You’ve been pulling that on me since I was this high. No, ‘I trust you’ is code for ‘Learn from your mistakes.’ This is not a mistake. Cristina never knows what’s good for her, that’s who she is. She hates change. I need, I have to, and then she’s grateful. That’s how it was with dating, with moving in. Look, I am going to make her happy Mama; the wedding is a huge step. And she’s been a great sport, you know what? Because she will be happy, someday.

And I don't want to be known as the guy who killed everybody else.

Terrorize one and the rest fall in line.

A day without surgery.

The way you’re feeling right now is why I have to believe in something bigger than me, because if I don’t, that powerlessness would eat me alive.

That’s not for you to decide, Dr. Grey. He asked you for something and you told him you would do it. And if you don’t, that doesn’t make you noble, makes you a liar.

I am Preston Burke, a widely renowned cardiothorasic surgeon. I am a professional, more than that, I am a good and kind person who cleans up behind myself. I am a person that cooks well. And you, you are an unbelievable slob. A slobbily, angry, intern. I am Preston Burke. And you, you are the most competitive, most guarded, most stubborn, most challenging person I have ever met. And I love you. What the hell is the matter with you that you just won’t let me?

Oh this is not... I am very confident in my manhood, thank you very much.

You're not the enemy, you're just the competition.

If you ever try to pull a stunt like that again, going to the parents behind the doctor's back, trying to steal a patient from another service, I will make your residency here, hell on earth.

But it’s not fine. You wanted to believe I was fine. You wanted me to be fine. You want it, I want it. Damn it! My hands are the only things I have of value to me, to you. My hands, these are who I am. If I can’t do this, if I can’t finish this surgery...

Cristina, I do promise to hold you and to cherish you. I do promise to be there in sickness and in health. Like they say, til death do us part. But I won’t, those vows are for optimistic couples. The ones full of hope. And I do not stand here on my wedding day optimistic or full of hope. I am not optimistic. I am not hopeful. I am sure. I am steady. And I know that I am a heart man, take them apart and put them back together. I hold them in my hands. I am a heart man. So this I am sure, you are my partner, my lover, my very best friend. My heart beats for you. And on this day, the day of our wedding, I promise you this. I promise you to lay my heart in the palm of your hands. I promise you me.

I'm up there waiting for you to come down the aisle and I know you don't want to come. I know you don't want to come, but you'll come anyway because you love me. And if I loved you, if I loved you, not the woman I am trying to make you be; not the woman that I hope you'll become; but you, if I did, I wouldn't be up there waiting for you. I would be letting you go.

When we're on duty, I can't be your boyfriend.

I got shot. I got shot coming back to the hospital to check on Denny because you asked me to. I’m not fine. Denny asked you to marry him and now he is dead. You are not fine. Don’t come in here and... just, we’re not fine.

I guess we never really got our date.

The only person who can hold a promise like that is God. And I haven’t seen him holding a scalpel lately. You never promise a patient's family a good outcome.

There's nothing you could reveal about yourself that I wouldn't want to know.

Gotta have to adjust your world view Dr. Grey. There are people out there who don’t lie.

I’m an attending. I don’t apologize to residents.

You have high standards. Your standards are too high. You make people out to be... people make mistakes. Your standards are too high. You see a flaw, you attack.

Quit. You quit being a surgeon. You have two healthy hands that you’re not using. Feel guilty about that.

Never in my career have I questioned a fellow surgeon in their O.R. I never understood what the problem was. An intern dating an attending. Until today.