Shonda Rhimes quotes

Shonda Rhimes is an acclaimed American television producer, screenwriter, and author, best known for creating hit series such as "Grey's Anatomy," "Scandal," and "How to Get Away with Murder." Her bold storytelling and strong, diverse characters have changed the landscape of television drama. She continues to be an influential force in the entertainment industry. Here are 51 of her quotes:

When people show you who they are, believe them. I carry that with me a lot. It has served me well.

Shonda Rhimes

I don't understand why people don't understand that the world of TV should look like the world outside of TV.

Shonda Rhimes

When the press began asking me for interviews, I freaked out. My instinct is to hide.

Shonda Rhimes

I think I'm most proud of the fact that I have figured out how to exist as both a creative person and artist, and a businesswoman and manager. Because those two things do not go together.

Shonda Rhimes

Most of the women I saw on TV didn't seem like people I actually knew. They felt like ideas of what women are.

Shonda Rhimes

You can't tell stories and really walk in someone's shoes and not have a love for them, even if they're doing horrible things.

Shonda Rhimes

Ive learned this is a very long marriage doing a television show. I like the people that I work with to be people I enjoy, so you want to cast people who are as excited and enthusiastic as you are.

Shonda Rhimes

Calling a show a 'guilty pleasure' is like saying 'I'm embarrassed to say I watch it but I can't stop.' That's not a compliment.

Shonda Rhimes

It's important to have people who are absolutely willing to say you're wrong or who have a totally different perspective than you do on everything. Fresh ideas are hard to come by, and good ones are even harder.

Shonda Rhimes

Writing for television is completely different from movie scriptwriting. A movie is all about the director's vision, but television is a writer's medium.

Shonda Rhimes

I think my goal is to find a way to spend all of my time writing. I mean, sort of; true success is I'm doing nothing but writing if I do my job correctly.

Shonda Rhimes

I don't get to watch a lot of TV, mainly because I'm busy working. And I pretty much try not to watch very much television at all, even American television, until I'm done with a season, because things start to creep into my head otherwise.

Shonda Rhimes

My philosophy was always try to look like Whitney Houston at all times. That did not work out so well.

Shonda Rhimes

I spent a lot of times sitting in big rooms full of a lot of men and executives thinking, 'What would Oprah say right now?' and trying to channel that as hard as I could. And mostly that was just about having the confidence. If this woman did it, it can be done. And there's no reason for anybody to stop you.

Shonda Rhimes

I don't ever approach anything from the issue first, so I can't tell you that I've thought about tackling universal health care. I'd have to have some great story I'd want to tell, and then universal health care would become part of the way to tell that story.

Shonda Rhimes

I like people with their own opinions, and I like people who argue with me. It's very exhausting to be in a room full of people who just nod and smile.

Shonda Rhimes

Why should I dislike anything about my appearance? I came off the factory line this way. I am perfect.

Shonda Rhimes

I can't change the past. It made me what I am.

Shonda Rhimes

The beauty of being a feminist is that you get to be whatever you want. And that's the point.

Shonda Rhimes

The secret sauce of the business that I can offer is my creativity, and in order to keep my creativity alive and fresh, I have to pretend that no one is watching the show, that there are no audiences, there are no ratings; I'm just telling a story.

Shonda Rhimes

A hashtag is not a movement.

Shonda Rhimes

I say it in the writers' room all the time: My black is not your black. What's terrifying is that, just the same way we've all accepted that normal is white, everybody seems to buy into the idea that there's only one way to be black or one way to be Hispanic. That's as damaging as anything else.

Shonda Rhimes