9 Shonda Rhimes Quotes To Inspire You To Break Through The Glass Ceiling

9 Shonda Rhimes Quotes To Inspire You To Break Through The Glass Ceiling

Shonda Rhimes, the woman who has taken Thursday night television by storm, turns 45 years old today.

Shonda's shows, "Grey's Anatomy," "Scandal," and "How To Get Away With Murder," challenge traditional ideas of what female (and therefore male) characters should look like, force viewers to accept that love is love is love in any form, and most obviously, are wildly entertaining.

Off screen, Shonda has cracked the glass ceiling for women in the entertainment industry -- though she admits others before her have run hard into it -- and won't apologize for her success. In speeches, and on Twitter, Shonda consistently imparts wisdom that should be heard far and wide. In honor of her birthday, here are nine of those tidbits:

1
"Dreams are lovely. But they are just dreams. Fleeting, ephemeral, pretty. But dreams do not come true just because you dream them. It's hard work that makes things happen. It's hard work that creates change." -- From Shonda's 2014 Dartmouth College Commencement
2
"I want my daughters to see me and know me as a woman who works. I want that example set for them. I am a better mother for it. The woman I am because I get to run Shondaland, because I get to write all day, because I get to spend my days making things up, that woman is a better person – and a better mother. Because that woman is happy. That woman is fulfilled. That woman is whole." -- From Shonda's 2014 Dartmouth College Commencement
3
“This moment right here, me standing up here all brown with my boobs and my Thursday night of network television full of women of color, competitive women, strong women, women who own their bodies and whose lives revolve around their work instead of their men, women who are big dogs, that could only be happening right now.” -- From Shonda's The Hollywood Reporter’s annual Women in Entertainment Breakfast
4
"I think in telling LGBT stories, I'm telling everyone's story. Love is, in fact, universal, right? … I want my daughters to grow up in a world in which there is more love than hate. I want them to know a world where everyone is free. So that's why I write the stories that I do, because everyone should be free." -- From Shonda's GLAAD acceptance speech
5
“I’m a black woman every day, and I’m not confused about that. I’m not worried about that. I don’t need to have a discussion with you about how I feel as a black woman, because I don’t feel disempowered as a black woman.” -- From Shonda's NYT profile
6
"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's 2006 O Magazine interview
7
"The best stories are often true… The narrative of human life is most beautiful when told truthfully and without boundaries." -- From Shonda's Glamour Women Of The Year speech
8
"Yes, it is hard out there. But hard is relative. I come from a middle-class family, my parents are academics. I was born after the Civil Rights movement, I was a toddler during the women's movement, I live in the United States of America, all of which means I am allowed to own my freedom, my rights, my voice and my uterus." -- From Shonda's 2014 Dartmouth College Commencement
9
“I joked to Tony Goldwyn that on another television series, he’d be the pretty girl that all the men are trying to save… That’s what he is, except he happens to also be the leader of the free world.” From Shonda's NYT profile

Before You Go

Kerry Washington

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