Ellen Pompeo and I have a pact that I'm going to do the show as long as Ellen Pompeo's going to do the show, so the show will exist as long as both of us want to do it. If Ellen Pompeo wants to stop, we're stopping. Shonda Rhimes More Quotes by Shonda Rhimes More Quotes From Shonda Rhimes 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 confusedblackinspiring 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 sawspeopleideas Whenever you see me somewhere succeeding in one area of my life, that almost certainly means I am failing in another area of my life. Shonda Rhimes brilliantsucceedmean 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 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. Shonda Rhimes painlove-isfall Boundaries don't keep other people out, they fence you in. Shonda Rhimes fenceboundariespeople Mother is not a title. Mother is a verb. It is not who you are. It's what you do. Shonda Rhimes titlesverbsmother Mother is a verb, not a noun. Shonda Rhimes verbsmotherinspirational I don't understand why people don't understand that the world of TV should look like the world outside of TV. Shonda Rhimes peoplelooksworld I read a lot of studies about the fact that there is a bias in the way health care is doled out, down to the fact that most medical studies are done on men, not women, so most dosages are planned for men, not women, and on and on. And more than that, women's pain is gauged differently and their complaints are received differently. And the idea that there's a place where you can go where everything is geared toward you, as a woman, is great. But it's a shame that we need to find places that are "safe" when the world, the whole world, should be a safe place. Shonda Rhimes painmenideas Making it through the ceiling to the other side was simply a matter of running on a path created by every other woman's footprints. Shonda Rhimes ceilingsrunninginspirational You are not alone. You are seen. I am with you. You are not alone. Shonda Rhimes not-alone At the end of the day, when it comes down to it, all we really want is to be close to somebody. So this thing where we all keep our distance and pretend not to care about each other, it's usually a load of bull. So we pick and choose who we want to remain close to, and once we've chosen those people, we tend to stick close by. No matter how much we hurt them. The people that are still with you at the end of the day, those are the ones worth keeping. And sure, sometimes close can be too close. But sometimes, that invasion of personal space, it can be exactly what you need. Shonda Rhimes distancespacehurt I think the point of America, our planet, the reason we're all here, one of the best things that we can do is be concerned about something even when it doesn't concern us. That's the whole point. The fact that I've never had to use a Planned Parenthood, the fact that I've never been in need of medical services I couldn't afford or didn't have access to, doesn't mean I shouldn't be concerned about the fact that other women don't have that access. Shonda Rhimes meanamericathinking I remember saying, very almost jokingly, I'm going to take over the world through television, that's my plan. And I said it to my agent, and I said it to my friends, and I said it to myself. Shonda Rhimes agentsinspiringtelevision 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 horribleshoesstories It's been a long time since Roe v. Wade, and I do think most people are able to have respect for other people's choices. Most people, I think, have accepted that it's not up to them to control other people's choices, except, it seems, when it comes to Washington, D.C., where everyone has an opinion about people's uteruses. Shonda Rhimes longpeoplethinking When you help make people healthier, it makes the nation healthier, it makes the world healthier, it makes the economy healthier. Shonda Rhimes helpingpeopleworld You literally can shoot someone in the face on television and a 7-year-old can watch it. But you can't show the slight of a man's hip, because dear God, someone might think of sex. And while we all hope our kids grow up to have sex, we do not hope they grow up to shoot someone in the face. Shonda Rhimes growing-upkidssex I happen to like debating, and I like to debate like a lawyer, and I can argue any points to death, and I will. Shonda Rhimes debatelawyerarguing I don't know if anyone has noticed but I only ever write about one thing: being alone. The fear of being alone, the desire to not be alone, the attempts we make to find our person, to keep our person, to convince our person to not leave us alone, the joy of being with our person and thus no longer alone, the devastation of being left alone. The need to hear the words: You are not alone. Shonda Rhimes desirewritingjoy
