Poker Face (Season 8, Episode 6)

As babies, we were easy.  One cry meant you were hungry.  Another meant you were tired.  It's only as adults that we become difficult.  We start to hide our feelings - put up walls.  It gets to the point where we never really know how anyone thinks or feels.  Without meaning to, we become masters of disguise.

It's not always easy to speak your mind.  Sometimes you need to be forced to do it.  Sometimes it's better to just keep things to yourself, though.  Play dumb.  Even when your whole body is aching to come clean.  So you shut your mouth, keep the secret, and find other ways to make yourself happy.

Love, Loss and Legacy (Season 8, Episode 5)

The human body is designed to compensate for loss.  It adapts, so it no longer needs the thing it can't have. But sometimes, the loss is too great, and the body can't compensate on its own.  That's when surgeons get involved.

We're so hopeful at the beginning of things.  It seems like there is only a world to be gained, not lost.  They say the inability to accept loss is a form of insanity.  It's probably true.  But sometimes, it's the only way to stay alive.

What is it About Men? (Season 8, Episode 4)

There are distinct differences between male and female brains.  Female brains have a larger hippocampus, which usually makes them better at retention and memory.  Male brains have a bigger parietal cortex, which helps when fending off an attack.  Male brains confront challenges different than female brains.  Women are hardwired to communicate with language, detail, empathy.  Men?  Not so much.  It doesn't mean that we're any less capable of emotion.  We can talk about our feelings.  It's just that, most of the time, we'd really rather not.

Be a man!  People say it all the time, but what does that even mean?  Is it about strength?  Is it about sacrifice?  Is it about winning?  Maybe it's simpler than that.  You have to know when not to "man up."  Sometimes it takes a real man to set his ego aside, admit defeat, and simply start all over again.

Take the Lead (Season 8, Episode 3)

You work, you study, you prepare. Months and years, leading to one day.  The day when you step up.  On that day, you have to be ready for everything.  But there's one thing you can never quite prepare for.  The day when you step down.

Sometimes, it happens in an instant.  We step up.  We become a leader.  We see a path forward.  We see a path, and we take it.  Even when we have no idea where we're going.

She's Gone (Season 8, Episode 2)

When my mother left my father, she didn't tell him she was leaving and taking me with her until we'd landed on the other side of the country.  In those days, it was called "family troubles".  Today, it'd be called kidnapping.

You think that true love is the only thing that can crush your heart.  The thing that will take your life and light it up... or destroy it.  Then, you become a mother.

Free Falling (Season 8, Episode 1)

Even good marriages fail.  One minute you're standing on solid ground, the next minute... you're not.  There's always two versions - yours, and theirs.  Both versions start the same way, though.  Both start with two people falling in love.

Nobody gets married thinking it's going to fail.  You think yours is the one that's going to make it.  And so it always comes as a shock - the moment when you realize it's over.  One minute you're standing on solid ground.  The next minute, you're not.

Do you have what it takes?  If your marriage is in trouble, can you weather the storm?  When the ground gives way and your world collapses, maybe you just need to have faith, and trust that you can survive this together.  Maybe you just need to hold on tight.  And no matter what, don't let go.

Unaccompanied Minor (Season 7, Episode 22)

I always said I'd be happier alone.  I'd have my work, my friends, but, someone in your life all the time?  More trouble than it's worth.  Apparently, I got over it. 

There's a reason I said I'd be happy alone.  It wasn't 'cause I thought I'd be happy alone.  It was because I thought if I loved someone, and then it fell apart, I might not make it.  It's easier to be alone, because what if you learn that you need love, and then you don't have it?  What if you like it, and lean on it; what if you shape your life around it, and then, it falls apart.  Can you even survive that kind of pain?  Losing love is like organ damage.  It's like dying.  The only difference is, death ends.  This, it could go on forever.