Ellen Pompeo

“I just don't want to be self-obsessed.”

“You can't really judge characters, because that's when it gets really hard to play them.”

“The older you get the more realistic it is that you're significant other is your significant other. I mean, you'll always have your girlfriends or your guy friends, but the person you're married to is usually your No. 1.”

“We're teaching young girls that this is what they should be focusing on: rich and famous girls who are rich and famous for nothing.”

“I think for any actor to say they don't like attention is ridiculous. Of course we love attention. But getting attention is different than pretending the attention means something.”

“Acting can be an amazingly cathartic thing - especially for young girls.”

“Really, I don't care if people think I'm too skinny. This is my body. If they don't like it, screw it.”

“Brains don't really smell, but what's amazing about the brain is that it's almost like scrambled eggs or soft tofu, almost like a gel. The brain controls so much of what we do, but you could put your finger right through it.”

“You know, Boston people are full of sauce.”

“There's a remarkable amount of sexism on TV. When male characters are flawed, they're interesting, deep and complex. But when female characters are flawed, they're just a mess. It's good to put more flawed but interesting female characters out there because it promotes equality.”

“I didn't have a boyfriend until I was 16, and he was eight years older. My father was furious about this 24-year-old, and I had to hide the relationship.”

“If I'm bringing joy to people and entertaining people as an actor, then I should be grateful for that and act accordingly, you know?”

“I want to teach my daughter the importance of exercising and eating healthy as she grows up.”

“I don't believe in putting on airs. I call it like I see it.”

“Where I come from, you don't just say, 'Oh, I'm going to become an actor.' Talk like that and they think you're crazy.”

“I was never a person who was introduced to junk food.”

“Women don't take care of themselves because they take care of everybody else.”

“Medicine is so fascinating.”

“Being a mother is the most fun job I've ever had.”

“Cancer is something that touches everyone's lives.”