Quotes By Mary J. Blige

I care about me now. When I didn't care about me, I was, like, 'Why is this going wrong? Why is my life so bad?' But when you don't care about yourself, nobody else is going to care about you. So I learned to love myself, even if nobody else does.

I'm a child of God. God is my mommy, my daddy. That's the only thing that'll keep my head up. If I don't remember who I am in him, I'm done.

God comes first - if I don't love him, I can't love anybody, and if I can't love me I can't love nobody.

I know who I am. I am not perfect. I'm not the most beautiful woman in the world. But I'm one of them.

You can hate me. You can go out there and say anything you want about me, But you will love me later because I told you the truth.

I don't listen to people's opinions. I have people around me who I can trust, but most of all I listen to myself.

As a child I always wanted to be a singer. The music my mother played in the house moved me - Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Mahalia Jackson. It was truly spiritual. It made you understand what God was. We are all spirits. We get depressed. But music makes you want to live. I know my music has saved my life.

You either learn from your experiences or go back and do the same thing, and I learned from my experiences.

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

My first album is playful.

I don't know what kind of God the rest of y'all are serving, but the God I serve says, 'Mary, you need to be the hottest thing this year, and I'm gonna make sure you're doing that.'

My God is a God who wants me to have things. He wants me to bling. He wants me to be the hottest thing on the block.

I'm a singer who thinks like a rapper.

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

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.

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

It's OK showing yourself some love.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.