Quotes from Kerry Washington

I have a deep, deep love for sneakers.

I think most people, when they think about the Black Panther Party, they think in very abstract, caricatured terms. They think about black fists in the air, but they don't think about the actual people, and the families, and the relationships.

I come from film, where I only play a character for three months at a time, and then it's done, so it's important for me to be able to put on other hats and make sure that all of the tools in my toolbox that don't apply to Olivia Pope are still in shape.

About a year ago I got really exhausted from reading bad scripts and I know that I am a writer and that I have stories to tell, so I thought, 'Let's do this!' So I'm co-writing a screenplay now with another screenwriter and loving it. Absolutely loving it. And I would like to be the producer on the project and of course the lead is me.

I really gravitate toward having all different styles in my closet because I feel like I always want to dress to fit my mood or where I am going. I do love Jason Wu; he is also a really good friend of mine, and I love what he is doing for Hugo Boss these days.

For me, what is political is very personal. Politics are not this abstract idea. Laws are the rules that dictate how we live our lives. What we eat is political. How we dress is political. Where we live is political. All of these things are influenced by political decision-making, and it's important to be part of the process.

I always felt like my value was much more in my intellect than it was in my appearance, and so that's what I spent time cultivating. And some of that I get from my mother, some of that comes from the schools that I went to, and some of that comes from probably insecurity.

I really love research. It's one of the things I love most about my job. I feel like it's me in the lab cooking up the character.

It is important to have friends and family around that I love and trust and who love and trust me.

I grew up in New York, so I fell in love with acting on a stage, not in front of a camera.

I've always been a writer because I've always been a student. My mom's a retired professor, so I come from a very academic background. I love writing, you know?

I definitely feel like I'm at that point where it's nice to not have to sit at home and wait to be invited to the party, but to be creating work for yourself.

I think generalizations of any sort are dangerous. I'll say, if that is the case - right now it's an American issue.

As a young girl, my real dream was to be the woman in the shows at SeaWorld.

People don't think about the fact that when Barack Obama's parents had him - it was illegal for them to be married in several states in this country. So if we start making it okay that certain people can marry and other people can't, it's a slippery slope of civil rights. Who knows who is going to be allowed to marry or not marry next.

I have an amazing social media manager, Allison Peters, who is one of my closest friends since childhood.

I just really love producing. I love being able to be part of a solution. I love being able to create opportunities for other people to do what they do, to be part of the collaborative process that is filmmaking and television making.

I always prided myself on the fact that I could live out of milk crates forever. It was kind of my way of detaching from materialism.

There are a lot of forms of exercise where you have to leave yourself out of the room while you force yourself to do this thing. With Pilates, I get to bring my true self. I cry, I laugh. I get to go, 'Where is my body today? What do I need today? How can I take care of myself and push myself past my comfort zone?'

One of the most amazing things about my job is that I have arguably, maybe not even arguably - definitively - the best boss on the planet. Shonda Rhimes is the best.

I think sometimes in life we want to ignore the problems of society and just think about the good. I believe in positive thinking and affirmative living, I also think it's really important to remember all of our disenfranchised members of society.

I've always been a writer because I've always been a student. My mom's a retired professor, so I come from a very academic background. I love writing, you know?

That's what acting is - it's about... having the courage to allow your audience into the private moments of your characters' lives.

Today there are people trying to take away rights that our mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers fought for: our right to vote, our right to choose, affordable quality education, equal pay, access to health care. We the people can't let that happen.