Quotes from Shonda Rhimes

You have to have more people who don't look like you in the writers room. I try to have some people who don't look like me in my writers room. I think it's important to have a group of voices, of people who can dissent.

I do say all I've ever written about is being alone. And most people take that as, 'Oh, that's so sad.' And I always say, 'No. No, all I ever write about is being alone, and sometimes that's a beautiful, beautiful thing.'

I actually like being alone. I spend most evenings reading and taking long baths.

My poor children have been the subject of all of my experiments. We're still doing what I call 'Amish summers' where I turn off all electronics and pack away all their computers and stuff and watch them scream for a while until they settle down into, like, an electronic-free summer.

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

Shondaland is my company. I run that mother. I am in charge. I am the leader. It's fantastic. It's also really hard. As it should be.

Mother is a verb, not a noun.

Mother is not a title. Mother is a verb. It is not who you are. It's what you do.

Italy during Shakespeare's time had citizens of all cultures and colors. To pretend that it did not is ignorance. And I don't waste my time on ignorance.

A lot of people think that they are leaders just because they have been placed in charge of something - and you're not.

Getting on a plane and discovering that your seat belt won't fit around you was a moment of extreme horror. It was very hard to ignore.

I don't think that my job requires me to be competitive at all. I'm in my office by myself, or I'm in my writers' room with my people. I've chosen a job in which there's no competition allowed. It's probably best for everyone.