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
Dartmouth College Commencement 2014, 2014
Video starts at 7:44 — the moment this quote was spoken
The Story Behind This Quote
Shonda Rhimes, the creator of 'Grey's Anatomy,' 'Scandal,' and 'How to Get Away with Murder,' delivered a bracingly honest commencement address at Dartmouth College in June 2014. At the time, she was arguably the most powerful showrunner in television, with three hit shows airing on the same network on the same night — a feat no one else had ever accomplished. Rhimes opened by confessing that she hated the word 'dreams' and found commencement speeches that told graduates to 'follow your dreams' to be fundamentally dishonest. Dreams, she argued, were passive — they were the easy part. Anyone can dream. What separates the people who achieve extraordinary things from the people who don't is not the quality of their dreams but the willingness to do the unglamorous, exhausting, often soul-crushing work required to make those dreams real.