Quotes By Mary J. Blige

Don't give up, be positive and if you know someone who knows someone at a record company don't stop beating down their door till you get heard. Don't ever say it'll never happen or it'll never happen.

It was only for two years, and I jumped from family to family. It's very scary.

You demand respect and you'll get it. First of all, you give respect.

As a kid, I dreamed about being onstage.

'My Life' is soft, with notes of pear and gardenia, but still bold, with a woody base.

I wouldn't adopt, but what I will do is give my time and go and try to be there for people.

'My Life' is not an autobiography. It's just music.

I wish I had an extra day with my mom sometimes. Or another hour in the day with my family, husband and children.

You can look at my palm and see the storm coming. Read the book of my life and see I've overcome it.

There are people out there who want to provoke me and bring back the old Mary but I'm not giving them the satisfaction.

It's OK showing yourself some love.

For the first time in my life, I'm proud of myself.

I felt ashamed about everything. Me dropping out of high school, me not, you know, just not being beautiful enough. I just didn't feel like I was smart enough or beautiful enough, you know, for years.

Really, every woman is an example to me, because as women we go through so much pain. We have to live this perfect life when we are messed up inside. We all go through trials and tribulations.

I remember a time when all my fans were crying and sad and going through hell. Now, we're trying to uplift each other and accept ourselves for who we are, even if nobody else does.

It's not just songs and glamour. It's sweat, blood, broken toes, and mistakes... It's life.

Thank you so much for supporting me from the day I stepped foot into the music industry. It really means something to me to have Maya Angelou speak on my behalf. It also means a lot to have Oprah on my speed dial!

In the inner city, there's a mentality that the government owes you something. My breakthrough came when I stopped feeling sorry for myself and took responsibility for every part of my life. No more pity parties. I've gotta love me more than anybody else loves me.

My responsibility to God is to live. That's the gift he gave me.

I've never been a mean person.

I'm striving toward this acting thing. I'm definitely gonna work hard on that, whatever comes my way, I'm gonna work hard on it.

When I was little, like 7 to 15, there was nothing I wanted to do but go to church and go to school.

I barely have time for my own children. To adopt more children and not have time for them, that would be poor parenting on my part.

I believe there are certain things that God uses to get us out of a bad situation, and I believe music was one of the things he used for me.

Once you climb to another level, you have to figure out how to sustain it.

Everything is scary if you look at it. So you just got to live.

I've just been growing right along. It's painful, but it's a great pain, and I like suffering for great results. It's like going to the gym. It hurts really bad at first, but after a couple of months and after that diet, you're looking so hot.

It's challenging to find an identity as a young person if you don't have the sustenance of love, because you're being shipped around.

I don't think I'll do foster care or adopt, to be quite honest.

I can tell you I didn't feel good when I could not articulate properly. Getting my GED was important and I want other women to feel that.