13 Badass Shonda Rhimes Quotes That Are Making Us So Excited to Read Her First Book

Rhimes, the creator of Grey's Anatomy and Scandal, will release Year of Yes in November 2015

By Tierney Bricker Jun 02, 2015 8:16 PMTags
Shonda Rhimes, UpfrontsStephen Lovekin/Getty Images

Our immediate reaction to hearing that Shonda Rhimes will be releasing her first book, Year of Yes, this fall? YAS. 

The mastermind behind some of TV's biggest hits, Scandal, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice and Grey's Anatomy, is teaming up with publisher Simon & Schuster for her debut tome about saying yes to every unexpected invitation that came her way for just one year. 

"Saying yes for an entire year turned out to be one of the most amazing decisions I have ever made," Rhimes said in a statement announcing the November 2015 release of the book already on the tippity-top of our most-anticipated debuts of the year. "It was also a little insane, a lot terrifying and sometimes wildly embarrassing. So this is not a story I ever planned to share with anyone. However, once Simon & Schuster asked me, I had no choice—what else could I say but yes?"

To celebrate the awesome news, we've rounded up some of Rhimes' most powerful, inspirational and just plain badass quotes over the years that are making us so excited to read her first book. (Prepare to do a whole lot of fist-pumping!)

Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Women In Film / MaxMara

1. "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." 2015 Human Rights Campaign Gala speech

2. "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." 2014 Dartmouth Commencement speech

3. "I don't know how this is going to come off sounding. I'm in a position of power where I run this world and handle this situation... If I'm going to make a crazy decision, then I better be damn sure. Because it's not like anybody's going to tell me, ‘You can't do that.'" NY Times profile

Vince Bucci/Invision for The Hollywood Reporter/AP Images

4.  "My father used to say to me, "The only limit to your success is your own imagination." I actually believed that—like, I'm still coming to terms with the fact that I might not be an Olympic figure skater. I'm sure there are barriers. I have just chosen not to acknowledge them." Fortune profile

5. "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."  2012 GLAAD speech

6.  "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." Dartmouth Commencement speech

7. "I really hate the word 'diversity.' It suggests something...other. As if it is something special, or rare. Diversity! As if there is something unusual about telling stories involving women and people of color and LGBTQ characters on TV. I have a different word: normalizing. I'm normalizing TV. I am making TV look like the world looks. Women, people of color, LGBTQ people equal way more than 50 percent of the population. Which means it ain't out of the ordinary." Human Rights Campaign Gala speech

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Twitter/Dartmouth

8. "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." Oprah's Next Chapter interview

9. "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." NY Times profile

10. "I don't. … If I am at home sewing my kids' Halloween costumes, I'm probably blowing off a rewrite I was supposed to turn in. If I am accepting a prestigious award, I am missing my baby's first swim lesson. If I am at my daughter's debut in her school musical, I am missing Sandra Oh's last scene ever being filmed at Grey's Anatomy. If I am succeeding at one, I am inevitably failing at the other. That is the trade-off." Rhimes answering the age-old "How do you do it all?" question during the Dartmouth Commencement speech. 

ABC/Lorenzo Bevilaqua

11. "There's nothing wrong with being driven. And there's nothing wrong with putting yourself first to reach your goals. The other stuff still happens." Fortune profile

12. "I don't put up with bullshit or nasty people. I don't have time for it." Rhimes on her "no-asshole" policy during her profile in The Hollywood Reporter

13. "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." Oprah's Next Chapter interview

Rhimes' first book Year of Yes will be released in November 2015.