Mother is not a title. Mother is a verb. It is not who you are. It’s what you do.
Ditch the dream and be a doer.
You are not alone. You are seen. I am with you. You are not alone.
I don’t understand why people don’t understand that the world of TV should look like the world outside of TV.
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.
Mother is a verb, not a noun.
Nobody got anything great by playing it safe.
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.
I happen to like debating, and I like to debate like a lawyer, and I can argue any points to death, and I will.
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.
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.
Calling a show a ‘guilty pleasure’ is like saying ‘I’m embarrassed to say I watch it but I can’t stop.’ That’s not a compliment.
Nobody ever asks a man how he gets stuff done. Nobody asks a man how he finds balance.
Everyone always says to me, ‘Why aren’t there more people of color on television?’ I’m like, ‘Why don’t you ask a bunch of people who aren’t putting people of color on television why there aren’t more people of color on television?’
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.
I never, ever pay attention to the ratings. I stopped paying attention to the ratings somewhere around season two or three of Grey’s. It’s something I have no control over, so I don’t even pay attention.
Ive learned this is a very long marriage doing a television show. I like the people that I work with to be people I enjoy, so you want to cast people who are as excited and enthusiastic as you are.
I was 4 and dictating stories into a tape recorder, and my mom typed them up.
A hashtag is not helping. A hashtag is not a movement. A hashtag does not make you Dr King. A hashtag does not change anything. It’s a hashtag.
I really don’t think there’s a world in which you can do anything with anybody. Because we’re in the world of the White House, I think there are certain things you can do, and larger things that can happen, but I don’t think you can do anything.
I am terrible with examples. I can never think of them when anybody asks for an example.