You want to be a writer? A writer is someone who writes every day, so start writing. You don't have a job? Get one. Any job. Don't sit at home waiting for the magical opportunity. Who are you? Prince William? No. Get a job. Go to work. Do something until you can do something else.

Shonda Rhimes

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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.

Shonda Rhimes

badass dream inspirational

You can waste your lives drawing lines. Or you can live your life crossing them.

Shonda Rhimes

strong-women drawing inspiring

The best stories are often true...The narrative of human life is most beautiful when told truthfully and without boundaries.

Shonda Rhimes

stories beautiful life

Maybe you know exactly what it is you dream of being, or maybe you're paralyzed because you have no idea what your passion is. The truth is, it doesn't matter. You don't have to know. You just have to keep moving forward. You just have to keep doing something, seizing the next opportunity, staying open to trying something new.

Shonda Rhimes

passion dream moving

At some point, you have to make a decision. Boundaries don't keep other people out. They fence you in. Life is messy. That's how we're made. So, you can waste your lives drawing lines. Or you can live your life crossing them

Shonda Rhimes

badass drawing people

The only limit to success is your own imagination.

Shonda Rhimes

limits imagination

I think a lot of people dream. And while they are busy dreaming, the really happy people, the really successful people, the really interesting, engaged, powerful people, are busy doing.

Shonda Rhimes

powerful successful dream

The expected is what keeps us steady. It's the unexpected that changes our lives forever.

Shonda Rhimes

steady unexpected forever

Nobody got anything great by playing it safe.

Shonda Rhimes

playing-it-safe safe

Perfect is boring and dreams are not real. Just... do. So you think, "I wish I could travel." Great. Sell your crappy car, buy a ticket to Bangkok, and go. Right now. I'm serious.

Shonda Rhimes

real dream thinking

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.

Shonda Rhimes

strong-women dog night

It can be scary to find out you've been wrong about something but we can't be afraid to change our minds, to accept that things are different, that they'll never be the same, for better or for worse. We have to be willing to give up what we used to believe. The more we're willing to accept what is and not what we thought, we'll find ourselves exactly where we belong.

Shonda Rhimes

giving-up scary believe

Ditch the dream and be a doer.

Shonda Rhimes

doers dream

We spend our whole lives worrying about the future, planning for the future, trying to predict the future, as if figuring it out will cushion the blow. But the future is always changing. The future is the home of our deepest fears and wildest hopes. But one thing is certain when it finally reveals itself. The future is never the way we imagined it.

Shonda Rhimes

future blow home

We all think we’re going to be great and we feel a little bit robbed when our expectations aren’t met. But sometimes our expectations sell us short. Sometimes the expected simply pales in comparison to the unexpected. You got to wonder why we cling to our expectations, because the expected is just what keeps us steady. Standing. Still. The expected's just the beginning, the unexpected is what changes our lives.

Shonda Rhimes

expectations littles thinking

Cynicism is a choice. Optimism is a better choice.

Shonda Rhimes

optimism brilliant choices

Finally I want to say this: If you are a kid and you are out there and you are chubby and not so cute and nerdy and shy and invisible and in pain, whatever your race, whatever your gender, whatever your sexual orientation, I’m standing here to tell you: You are not alone. Your tribe of people, they are out there in the world. Waiting for you.

Shonda Rhimes

pain cute kids

You never know the biggest day of your life is your biggest day, not until it’s happening. You don’t recognize the biggest day of your life, not until you’re right in the middle of it. The day you commit to something or someone. The day you get your heart broken. The day you meet your soul mate. The day you realize there’s not enough time because you wanna live forever. Those are the biggest days. The perfect days.

Shonda Rhimes

perfect-days broken heart

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

Shonda Rhimes

shows believe people

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.

Shonda Rhimes

confused black inspiring