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'.”

“It hurts when you have to smile and you don't want to smile, but the best thing to do is to smile.”

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

“As long as I live, I know I'll have feelings. And that's what I'm passionate about.”

“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.”

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

“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.”

“I've never been a mean person.”

“When I was a child I didn't care about getting an education, and I didn't finish high school.”

“Life is full of trials and tribulations. It's dramatic when you don't treat people right when you're in the tribulations, but I know now how to get out of it. You have to make a decision to say 'No more', and then you know what to do when the trials happen.”

“Sometimes I frown and I don't realise it.”

“I don't have any health problems, but to keep your health improves your quality of life.”

“I'm from the element of the streets that says that once you've made it, it's yours. But keep it to yourself.”

“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.”

“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.”

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

“I'm on my way to a place where I'd never dreamed I'd be, and that's perfection.”

“If you're not confident in yourself, you're going to waver. I've wavered, and I've lost.”

“I always want to be a messenger, a person that, you know, that's not afraid to pass on wisdom.”

“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.”