Mary J. Blige Quotes & Sayings

I can see the music. I know what it looks like. I know what color it is. The words come easy, the tears come easy, and the joy comes easy. The music tells you what to do. — Mary J. Blige

You demand respect and you'll get it. First of all, you give respect. — Mary J. Blige

Negative words are powerful boomerangs so be careful what you say about people and yourself. — Mary J. Blige

That's the message I want to give to every up-and-coming artist: Do everything that is going to help you later. If you clone somebody else, that's all they're gonna keep wanting from you. — Mary J. Blige

I decided to start my own label because so many people with talent come to me wanting to know how they can get in the music business. — Mary J. Blige

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

I don't know. Only God knows where the story ends for me, but I know where the story begins. It's up to us to choose, whether we win or lose and I choose to win. — Mary J. Blige

I used to think I was ugly. I thought I looked like a camel. A person who doesn't love themselves, they will see anything that pops up on their face. I've seen squirrels, I've seen a bird, and I've seen all kinds of animals on my face. But that is the result of self-hate. I've learned to say: 'You know what? I am a beautiful black woman'. — Mary J. Blige

The younger Mary J. Blige, I would call her, she was very unaware, ignorant. — Mary J. Blige

The music business is not a good place for people who don't know things. — Mary J. Blige

I didn't never have to go to a therapist. I just always put it in a song and you heard me. — Mary J. Blige

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

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. — Mary J. Blige

Once you climb to another level, you have to figure out how to sustain it. — Mary J. Blige

When I was a child I didn't care about getting an education, and I didn't finish high school. — Mary J. Blige

I like French fries; I like mashed. I love potatoes. — Mary J. Blige

If I'm going to be the best in what I do, I have to study what I'm doing, I have to see what I'm doing. I have to see it, I have to hear it. I'm just starting to appreciate myself - not starting, but appreciating myself in a way where I can look at myself back in a movie or listen to myself as much as I do now. — Mary J. Blige

I believe that anything man himself can do for me, God can do for me in a greater way. I decided to pray and to seek God on my own. I just stayed in The Word. And it worked. — Mary J. Blige

I didn't know how to show my self love, and I didn't want anyone else to hurt me. So my tough girl attitude was like, 'I'm not having it.' — Mary J. Blige

I'm searching for a real love. — Mary J. Blige

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. — Mary J. Blige

For the first time in my life, I'm proud of myself. — Mary J. Blige

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

The streets respect me because I kept it real with me. You gotta be real with yourself, and the streets recognize game. — Mary J. Blige

People know what they see but they don't know what's happening inside. If you want to know who you are and how you feel about yourself, take a look at your environment. — Mary J. Blige

I never do any album to beat it. I do it to extend it. — Mary J. Blige

As far as men go, they never gave me a chance to be me; they were always scared that somebody was going to take me. — Mary J. Blige

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. — Mary J. Blige

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. — Mary J. Blige

It hurts when you have to smile and you don't want to smile, but the best thing to do is to smile. — Mary J. Blige

I'm on my way to a place where I'd never dreamed I'd be, and that's perfection. — Mary J. Blige

I think women should band together to get us more respect in all the businesses that we're in because, you know, if we turn 40, we're nothing and nobody. We all should band together and just say we're not gonna go down like that. — Mary J. Blige

No one intimidates me because I'm not trying to do what you do, because I can't do what you do. I can only do what Mary J. Blige can do, so that relaxes me right there, and it gets me out of the competition and that whole thing. — Mary J. Blige

As a kid, I dreamed about being onstage. — Mary J. Blige

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

You have to create different things, either through lighting or changing the format of the songs and how you're going to sing them, and even sometimes props. — Mary J. Blige

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

I can go out raw with nothing, and my fans would still be happy, but I feel that I owe it to them to give them almost like a Broadway musical at this point in my life. I have to give them something more, so I do have to think of different ways to do it. — Mary J. Blige

Don't go a full day or night without washing your face. You have to get all the dirt and makeup out of your pores. — Mary J. Blige

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

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

I wish I had known that education is the key. That knowledge is power. Now I pick up books and watch educational shows with my husband. I'm seeing how knowledge can elevate you. — Mary J. Blige

Believe in yourself when nobody else does. — Mary J. Blige

I do consider myself part of black history. — 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. — Mary J. Blige

It's OK showing yourself some love. — Mary J. Blige

When I was a kid, I needed to sing because it makes me feel good about myself. It makes me feel good, period. — Mary J. Blige

Love is wonderful, amazing, and the best thing that can happen to us. — Mary J. Blige

My main exercise is cardio. The treadmill is fine, but running outdoors gives me the best results. I try to log 6 to 8 miles a week. I could be in the worst mood, but when I do my cardio, I feel much, much better. — Mary J. Blige

It's that first step-getting out the door-that's the toughest. If you can do that, you've already won. — Mary J. Blige

I just want fans to walk away knowing that no matter what's going on, no matter how happy you are, no matter how sad you are, we did it. We're strong in this. We've come a long way, and life is not just one thing. — Mary J. Blige

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

The important thing is to realize that no matter what people's opinions may be, they're only just that - people's opinions. You have to believe in your heart what you know to be true about yourself. And let that be that. — Mary J. Blige

Just don't let the hype of what people are saying and how much they love you, y'know, just take the compliment and be thankful that people are complimenting you, but don't let it consume you; don't let your circumstances around you and the way people view you make you act a certain way. — Mary J. Blige

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. — Mary J. Blige

Music is where my love is. I don't think the acting thing is going to start outweighing that, but I think it's going to start being a good chunk of something I want to do. — Mary J. Blige

Yonkers made me strong and made me believe in myself, because so many people would doubt you and not believe. There are people that would believe in you, but the environment was so harsh, nobody wanted you to get out, you know? — Mary J. Blige

You know a lot, but you don't know everything. — Mary J. Blige

I've done well, I've been disappointed, and I think it all goes back to you. Of course the labels are going to be the labels. It's the music business. You are a business. That's what they do. So you've got to protect yourself. — Mary J. Blige

I mean, I know my heart is not clean, and your heart is not clean, and none of our urban hearts are clean. But you can be washed again. — Mary J. Blige

'My Life' is not an autobiography. It's just music. — Mary J. Blige

I grew up watching MTV, when Journey was huge, when Pat Benatar had 'Love Is a Battlefield,' and my friends and I used to cut school to watch this woman in the video. We loved Pat Benatar. — Mary J. Blige

I like hanging out with me, and I've accepted everything about me good, bad whatever it is. That's why I'm able to, that's why no one can tell me anything negative about myself. — Mary J. Blige

In the studio you can really concentrate on performing the song where as on stage you also have to worry about connecting with so many people, they're definitely different. — Mary J. Blige

I always want to be a messenger, a person that, you know, that's not afraid to pass on wisdom. — Mary J. Blige

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

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! — Mary J. Blige

So many people are like, 'I'm perfect.' I'm so imperfect; that's why I'm able to let everything out and let people see everything. 'Cause I'm just a mess like every other person that's a mess out there. — Mary J. Blige

I'm hoping that my entrepreneurial side will have me at a place where I don't have to do anything. That's what I'm striving for. — Mary J. Blige

I still get nervous about singing. I drink tea with honey and lemon before every concert. And I need to have scented candles in all of my hotel rooms. — Mary J. Blige

As a kid, I was in love with Michael Jackson, and I just knew I was going to marry him someday. — Mary J. Blige

Larry David makes me laugh. — Mary J. Blige

When you hold on to anger and unforgiveness, you can't move forward. — Mary J. Blige

I listen to gospel music. — Mary J. Blige

By the time I was a teenager, when I went outside the house, it was about hip-hop all the time. Nothing but hip-hop, block parties. — Mary J. Blige

I was inspired to create 'My Life' so I could finally share a personal part of my life beyond my music. — Mary J. Blige

I don't want no drama in my life, even though we have a little bit, but no more letting people control you. That's drama, because then you become something that you're not. — Mary J. Blige

My first album is playful. — Mary J. Blige

There's not enough time to be disrespecting ... Life is too short. — Mary J. Blige

Everything is scary if you look at it. So you just got to live. — Mary J. Blige

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. — Mary J. Blige

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. — Mary J. Blige

I'm a singer who thinks like a rapper. — Mary J. Blige

When you're going to do whatever you're going to do, you have to get your, put your mind into it. — Mary J. Blige

Nowadays, with the state of the music business, for any artist, whether you're up-and-coming or you've been in it for awhile, you have to explore different revenues and different ways of expressing yourself. — Mary J. Blige

The music business is really, really small. The real music is becoming almost extinct, if you don't stay true to who you are. — Mary J. Blige

Working in the studio is a more personal experience whereas on stage in front of a billion people, its more exciting performing live. — Mary J. Blige

It's sad that a lot of identities are lost and a lot of careers are lost because there's sort of a clone thing going on. — Mary J. Blige

When life is real, it's not going to be smooth. — Mary J. Blige

I blame my mother for nothing, but forgive her for everything. — Mary J. Blige

Music makes us want to live. You don't know how many times people have told me that they'd been down and depressed and just wanted to die. But then a special song caught their ear and that helped give them renewed strength. That's the power music has. — Mary J. Blige

This music business can suck all the love out of you, all the compassion for people - you can start to think you're better than them. But I want to continue to let people know that I'm no better and no worse, I'm just like you. — Mary J. Blige

If we didn't have understanding of our journey, we wouldn't be able to go on. We'd be stuck, like, 'Why me?' — Mary J. Blige

I would be a liar and my fans would hate me if I said to them, 'Oh, we're perfect and everything is great.' We have situations just like everyone else. We're not out in public trying to kill each other, but it's real. We love each other. — Mary J. Blige

There's so many things that life is, and no matter how many breakthroughs, trials will exist and we're going to get through it. Just be strong. — Mary J. Blige

We are all just a work in progress. — Mary J. Blige

Then my life crashed and burned down: trials, men, drama, no self-love, no identity. A little identity, but not a lot of love for myself, my life. — Mary J. Blige

You can't get around pain and opposition, but you can try to be joyful in the trial, and thank yourself for the trial, and thank God for the strength to get through it. — Mary J. Blige

I just love food, period. — Mary J. Blige

When you finally understand who you are, ages 6 through 60 will understand who you are. Because when they see a person that's come through all that I've come through, still standing, it's amazing. — Mary J. Blige